


KINGDOM COME. (BLEACH)

by deityofdiscordanddeath



Category: Bleach
Genre: Angst, F/M, Multi, Other, Past Abuse, Past Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 08:43:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 53,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19331086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deityofdiscordanddeath/pseuds/deityofdiscordanddeath
Summary: ❝WE ALL HAVE A MONSTER WITHIN; THE DIFFERENCE IS IN DEGREE, NOT IN KIND.❞This is the story of Aida Verron, an arrancar that serves under two lords: one being Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and the other being Aizen. Being a loyal fraccion to Grimmjow by day and a reporter to Aizen by night certainly isn't easy, but she managed both occupations valiantly.But being a busy arrancar wasn't all to the woman. She held much more significance in the past as the Captain of Eleventh Division in Gotei 13. However, she has forgotten most of it with the exception of the betrayal Soul Society had done in her case. Now serving under Sosuke Aizen, will she blindly believe everything he tells her or will she turn to Soul Society in aid to find out what had truly happened one-hundred and ten years ago on the fateful night she had transitioned into a hollow?





	1. Chapter 1

**_THE NIGHT_** ; dark, silent and eerie glimmered over the deserts of Hueco Mundo. The sand of times that carpeted the ground of this barren land reflected the shine of the crescent that hung like an ornament over the area as the only existing source of light for the night. The dried, dead trees and large bunds of rocks that stood at distances from the other in the desert made the place look a perfect setting taken off an eighties' horror film. 

The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy when a reproaching figure started to enter our scene. Their heavy feet thumping and sinking with each step, gaze fixated on the cane that was their in tight and bony grasp as they attempted to make it to a rock to sit upon before their pale skeletal legs give up and they go landing into a never-ending nightmarish oblivion they wish not to see again in their so-called 'existence'. 

Their breathing rate had started to drop as did their will. They were losing it. They were on the verge to turn into something they would never return again from. They couldn't anymore bring themselves to prey upon another miserable creature much like theirs. They defended themselves for days against those unfortunate souls, but never once feasted on them. They were starving themselves back into a position they knew they couldn't return from. They would lose all their morals then on, but it was worth it. They couldn't disappoint their past self. Not anymore.

Upon reaching a heightened rock they had their eyes on since beginning, they weakly climbed over it and laid upon their back, breathing raggedly suddenly, body sprawled across the rock. Placing their long bony hands on their pale chest decorated with bones, their bark shaded eyes had now cascaded upon the moon in the sky with their mind reminiscing each beautiful moment from the past. 

This was the end of line for them. They would be gone for good in a short period of time. They would no longer have traces of who they once were. They would be a ruthless animal, feasting on the innocent from left to right before becoming a target of the shinigamis and erased from the face of Earth forever.

 _I am sorry, Shinji._  
_I am sorry Yama-jii_.

_I loved you all._

Just when they felt their soul slipping, they heard a voice laid with depth and darkness speak,

"Another worthless adjucha."

 

-

 

  
_'_ **_I HATE THIS_ ** _.'_

A loud groan escaped her ruby shade lips as she sat on top of a fifty-storey building, her legs dangling off the tanker she had her posterior uncomfortably placed upon. A tiny notebook sat on her lap as she boringly wrote details of the event unfolding before eyes about, not even bothering to spare a glance at it because by now she had perfected the art of handwriting without having to look at it. It was not hard at all since she was dragged left to right to write reports about everything by her one particular Lord.

It was midnight in the human world. It was midnight and it was beautiful. It was a real midnight. It was one she had seen centuries ago. The sky's blackness was infinite but certainly not certain as the luminous dancing bijou stars decorated it in the company of the full moon. She loved it. She loved the natural air blowing past her, making her dark recently cut short hair move in the same direction. Now that she was back in the human world, all she wanted to do was remain on top of this building, though in a better sitting place, grab bottles of sake and drink her heart out whilst enjoy the views below her.

But she couldn't.

That was unlike her now, and she had come to write an account, not enjoy. That wasn't in her anymore.

She has changed.

Her eyes were half closed in a shameless attempt to catch sleep whilst jotting down information about the orange haired boy trying to escape the stupid arrancar who seem to know him for some reason, she thought scratching her head curiously. She could hear the large creature's booming voice call,"Ichigo Kurosaki" to the boy, but she couldn't care less even though a feeling deep in her gut was shaking her to the core, screaming about knowing something about this boy and his features that resembled someone in the past. She chose to ignore the stupid feeling. ' _It is stupid_.'

She could also swear she could feel spiritual pressure of someone she knew once really well. Someone she once bonded with. Someone she once she once deeply cared about, but she could swear upon the Soul King that she had no capability of putting a finger on it. Who did it belong to? They are suppressing it after years of experience, but I can still detect it because I've spent a lifetime in its presence.  _Who_?  _Who_?!

It was only moments later she realised she had long quit writing and nearly tripped off the tanker at the realisation.  _Oh bloody hell, I became distracted_.  _Just how unlike me_! Looking down at the imbecile of a so called arrancar, she quickly started to note down how the bloody thing had surrounded the ginger who by now, looked as if life has escaped from his soul. It was a look she really liked and loathed in each human's eyes. Liked because fear looked beautiful in their eyes. Loathed because a part of her wanted them to feel safe because she would protect them.

_'That's not you anymore. You should love fear in their eyes when you stand before them, or when you savour their sou-'_

_Shut it, Milajuaro. Let me be at ease._

_'No, I will not be at ease until you listen-'_

This was the second time the inner voice was cut off, and funnily it was not she who did. A bright light that nearly blinded her caught her eye from above. Quite coincidentally it was coming from the exact spot she last saw the human and the hollow.

"Dear me, dear me—"

 _'That voice. It sounds so familiar_. ' thought she, scrunching her eyebrows together in an awful attempt to remember who it truly belonged to. She knew the owner of it was someone she knew oh so well, but her awful mind seemed to be failing her at the preceding moment.

"Well, Mister Hollow. I am sorry to say but Ichigo is out right now."

She hated this. She knew this voice but she could not recollect anything right now. Though all at the same time could not help but be thankful for her terrible memory. 'Lesser the recalling, the lesser this pain.' Perhaps if she saw him, she would remember then.

"Oh sorry. I forgot to introduce myself," the masculine voice spoke out again. Out of sheer curiosity, the young woman jumped off the rooftop of the building she sat upon and glided down behind a car to observe a massive arrancar, the owner of the familiar voice and the blinding light which was emitting from a..talisman? This was too interesting. Her left hand started to jot each and every moment of this scene down in her notebook as they occurred one by one.

She had so much to tell her Lord today.  _Oh so much information!_

The talisman crashed against the ground as the once bright light had faded away into the darkness, unveiling a tall masculine man dressed up in black robes, a white piece of fabric wrapped around his upper arm, a Zanpakutō in the helm of his belt. He had coal shaded lustrous hair that was not only cut short but gelled upwards, making him automatically handsome to her. Of course, as expected he was muscular as if he trained day and night to become so awfully ripped. She did not mind the view honestly, however when she heard his name that feeling of attraction was suddenly replaced by another one; shock.

Her jaw dropped to the ground when she heard the name,"Kurosaki Isshin" as did the notepad that was in her grasp only seconds prior. She fell to the floor with a light thud, staring at the boy- no, man now before her eyes. Her eyes had began to water as so many old memories suddenly flood back to her.

_It had been a quiet day in Seireitei today according to the woman. Nothing particularly had happened which would cause her to unsheathe her sword. The sky was shining brightly over the pride of the Soul Society with the commoners, the nobles, the protectors everyone minding their own business as per usual. She could hear the commoners talk and communicate with each other in the market from the distance she was at. It was tranquil. A tranquil day everyone deserved time to time in this place._

_She was strolling around the outskirts of the city in the forest in hope of peace and some fresh air, and quite to her relief she was capable of relinquishing both without any trouble. The fresh air was like a pleasant cup of green tea to her; refreshing and healthy. She loved the nature and though Yamamoto couldn't offer her a place in the forests, he had made sure the woman was surrounded by trees and all species of plants in her squad's barracks. She was very thankful to him for that._

_Taking a deep breath she smiled contently, her eyes closed with her attention only fixated on the air that was blowing against her skin and knee-length dark hair. Her ears were picking the sound of those unique birds that were chirping up above in the trees gracefully. She loved this life more than her previous one certainly. It was very pleasant._

_"Ahh, an amicable day at last." And just then, her eyes abruptly went wide in awe when her ears picked the howl of a hollow deep from the forest followed by the scream of a child._

_'There goes my resting day,' she thought in a disgruntle manner before pulling her sword out from its sheathe and jumping on a tree to flash step from one to another._

_Upon reaching the location of the hollow, she found the back of the gigantic accursed creature facing her. The creature had its attention fixated on someone so powerfully it could not detect her spiritual pressure in such close distance. 'Either I've mastered the art of camouflaging my spiritual pressure or this hollow is simply shallow in the head,' thought the woman scratching her head, almost thwart. It was in that moment she noticed a young child underneath the hollow that was its centre of attention. The corner she could see the child from, he seemed to have been shaking profusely with the hollow hovering above him, ready to devour his soul._

_Not on my watch._

_"Hey, Mister Hollow," she shouted at the the thing whilst waving her sword in the air clumsily. The thing, which was in shape of a skeletal masked toad with glinting eyes, turned around to the woman before letting out another howl at her. Smiling, she steadied the grip of her right hand onto the sword and said,"Why don't you pick on someone your size?" And with that she raced towards the creature and the creature at her._

_It was a simple run of her sword against the creature that ended the game. Seeing her sword slice the creature in half she halted and turned around only to see the creature turn into purple particles and dissipate into the air. A smirk masked her face as a scoff dared escaping her throat at the lack of power of putting up a decent fight even among the adjuchas. Such simpletons they were according to her._

_She threw her sword back into its scabbard and turned her attention towards the child who still looked traumatised after what had taken place moments ago. Taking slow strides towards him, she noticed him curled up against a tree with his eyes closed and body shaking vigorously. He must be thinking the hollow was still glowering down upon him; she smiled compassionately at the thought._

_"Hey there, boy. The monster is gone now," She spoke with voice laced with kindness. The boy stopped shaking and opened his eyes to look at the green eyed woman who was bending down to his height and smiling softly only at him. His eyes grew in surprise, noticing the absence of the hollow. He then turned his attention to his saviour as he stood up and smiled back at the woman who just saved his life from the dangerous monster._

_"Thank you so much for saving me! You are very strong and kind!" The boy said a little too excitedly with his chocolate brown eyes glistening in the bright light, making her chuckle. She stood up straight, making her twice his height now, and took her hand to run it over the boy's head out of love and compassion that she forbore in her heart for children only. "I merely did what I had to do, my boy. What is your name?"_

_The question made him smirk and close his eyes before pointing his thumb at himself with pride,"Me? I am Isshin. Isshin Shiba!" She could not help but chuckle again at the boy's gratification towards his background and name. She knew the Shibas very well. After all, she had an annoying Shiba back at the squads to tolerate. Hopefully he will not turn out like that smartass._

_"And you?"_

_"Huh?" Her mind returned to the existing settings and looked at the proud boy who seemed to have asked her a question she was incapable of picking._

_"What is your name?"_

_A smile came upon her soft features again at the sight of the curious boy. Putting her hand behind her neck she chuckled lightly before she replied,"Oh my name is—"_   
  
  
  


**_NO, NO_**. She smacked the ground below her in absolute fury that clouded her vision and all her senses.

She had done so much to suppress them all. She did so much to forget each and every one of them so that she does not feel guilty about siding with the villains in this story after serving this world as a good person. She tried so hard to forget, and for the longest she felt she had succeeded! She felt cold towards all things. She ceased feeling at all. Her face no longer lit up to the entertaining memories she had made with those she held close to her heart.

_Her heart did not exist anymore, neither did the love._

"Isshi, you grew up," she mouthed at his sight as she watched him converse with the arrancar, her eyes only catching calling himself 'father' to this boy Ichigo, which caused a fraction of a smile to break on her face once her anger had subsided into love. He not only grew up but became a father too. Even though she lacked a heart now, she felt a ting of pride when she heard his words and repeated them in her mind again.

Lost in her thought, she did not notice the half arrancar release their Zanpakutō and turn into the mutated version of a ram.

She would had done something to protect Isshin like she once did in the past, but right now she did not care. She did not bother anymore even though there was a part of her that was attempting their fullest to shake her back into her senses. That part of her wanted to get up, slay the arrancar and meet with Isshin.

But, evil part was truly the dominant one now.

All she did now was watch and report. She watched the arrancar punch a hole into the road with all its night. She watched the arrancar pull out its Zanpakutō to slay Isshin. She watched Isshin pull his out. She watch him slay the arrancar in half.

She watched.

' _He grew in strength_!' She thought excitedly, the emotion of 'pride' swarming across her body after witnessing Isshin put his katana back into its sheath before the arrancar fell to the ground, shaking it forcefully. She jotted that down into her notepad as well, a small smirk displayed on her lips at the beautiful but disappointing sight.

Isshin turned his back dramatically to walk away only to be interrupted by a voice that caused shocked to swim all over her again. Her eyes went wide at not only the voice but the sight of the peculiarly dressed man who appeared from the shadows of scene that played out only moments ago. His hat was covering the upper part of his hair and face, but she could recognise the hair and oval shaped face anywhere at any time even if she suffers from dementia over and over again.

' _Kisuke_.'

A cane in one hand and a fan in another, he walked over to Isshin and began an inaudible conversation with him. He seemed to be smiling whilst Isshin had a stoic face through it all. It seemed both knew each other fairly well even though after racking her memories of past, she did not recall both meeting each other at all.

' _I want to meet them_ ,' she thought impulsively. She wanted to hug each one of them and talk to them about all that happened. She wanted to cry. She wanted to feel home, a feeling that now only existed with them.

_'Home.'_

_What is that?_

_'It's where your heart is, idiot. Or whatever those humans say in the movies.'_

_But my heart has been destroyed, Milajuaro_.

_'Has it, really?'_

It was then her conversation was interrupted by a dark pathway Garganta that opened right behind her. Turning her face back briskly, nearly snapping her neck in the process, she found the cuatro espada standing, his hands dug into the pockets of his white coat with teal eyes as emotionless as ever.

"Your time is up here, woman. Lord Aizen calls for you," he spoke in a low voice, the commandment dancing in his tone at the  _woman_  before him. He reached his pale hand out for her to grab onto which she gratefully did before jumping into it by using the cuatro espada's shoulders as support. She was accidentally going to land on him, but his hands quickly steadied the woman by holding her from her hips carefully. Their faces had come too close, but all at the same pace both created enough distance to make it less awkward.

Entering into the garganta which had slowly started to close, she turned away from Ulquiorra and settled her eyes on the two familiar faces, who were still conversing, one last time with a sad smile on her face.

' _I will see you two again, but in that moment you both would want to kill me and I, you.'_

 


	2. Chapter 2

**_SHE WAS BACK AT LAS NOCHES._**  

Walking beside Ulquiorra with her notepad in her grasp, swaying side to side with her arm, both were on their path to meet Lord Aizen who was patiently awaiting her arrival, just like her other Lord.

A stifling silence was hanging in the halls of the palace they were strolling in with the only sound through it being that of their traditional white zori clamping against the ground. The halls went on for an eternity and had the girl not spent about a year in here, she would have easily gotten lost at this moment even with Aizen's right hand being next to her.

Both did not dare share a word on their way. Of course, there existed no bad blood between them, for both had no purpose in life beside doing Aizen's bidding these days but neither could bring themselves to speak to each other. Ulquiorra seemed too disinterested to speak to her whilst she just didn't wanted to seem vexing to the Cuatro Espada even though there were times she felt like conversing with this mysterious enigma that walked smoothly right next to her. She was afraid of being rejected by him. She was always afraid of being rejected by anyone before showing even her true potential.

"So the Arrancar," Ulquiorra said in a questioning manner, wanting her to answer about the incomplete Arrancar's welfare. Even though her insides went on a pulled the panic mode on her, her mind questioning if it was some way he wished to speak to her, she did her best to ignore it and muster properly,"It was slain before me." She quickly inhaled and exhaled, trying to prepare herself for another question that the mysterious espada might throw in her direction.

"Slain by who?"

' _Not this question, please_.' She had prayed to herself. She didn't want to tell him Isshin's involvement in slaughtering the creature, no no. It may have been over a century since she knew them as they were, but her pure part still could not bring itself to expose him to the enemy naked. That would mean Aizen would be ultimately prepared for him, and may take his life. No, no.

She still felt loyalty towards the people of a society that betrayed her worse than her kinsmen. 

_'Remember who did not reject you.'_

_But, Milajuaro-_

_'Remember Lord Aizen's gratefulness towards you. REMEMBER, YOU STUPID BRAT. DON'T YOU GET IT, LORD AIZEN WAS THE ONLY MAN WHO TRUSTED YOU. HE DID NOT TREAT YOU A LOWLY ANIMAL. HE HAD FAITH IN YOU. It's time you repay that debt to make it equal.'_

"Kurosaki Isshin."

"Hn." Was all Ulquiorra muttered, the name clearly foreign to him to which she sighed in relief. He did not know Isshin, and so he might not even inform Lord Aizen, for every Shinigami was nothing but a piece of trash to the arrogant espada with the no emotions.

Thanking her own self under her breath, she had not written Isshin's name in her notepad she will hand over to Aizen now so he was still very safe from the hands of the evil man she had to serve for all that he ever did for her. She was thankful, but was this a path she truly wanted to follow? Even after a year in his servitude she was very uncertain.

Arriving in the throne room, the girl took a bow before the man seated upon the high chair before staring into his eyes without any emotions. The overpowered man was dressed in his usual white shirt and jacket with black outlines, a white hakama, black tabi and zori. He had his arms crossed against his chest in rest and relaxation though his fingers were drumming slowly upon his broad upper body, indicating his slight impatience. His coffee-shade eyes were looking down upon her pleasantly, no signs of any negative emotion or whatsoever. She wanted to take refuge in them like she did with no regret a year or two ago, but she could never bring herself to trust him entirely. She did not know his sins, but she did not know of his good deeds either. Her gut told her not to confide in him even if her brain desired to.

The throne was just like in any ordinary empty throneroom. It was adorned with pale royal blue walls and pillars that stood taller than the towers of the living world. It was empty and bleak and went on for ever just like every place in the Godforsaken palace. The only thing that she found mildly interesting about the room was Aizen's throne because the marble the people carved it out of was colourful and aesthetic to the eye.

Upon taking a look at the room from front to back she only realised it was only Sosuke and her in the entire room. Tousen and Gin were nowhere in sight when they were supposed to be next to Aizen at all times, especially Tousen. Looking behind made her realise something funny, Ulquiorra was not there. Both were walking towards Aizen's throneroom but now he was no longer around, and she was incapable of detecting his spiritual pressure anymore. He was too far.

' _Does that mean he walked all the way towards the throneroom to actually escort me?_ ' the girly thought crossed her mind, making her insides feel muddled in a wholesome manner.

_'Get over yourself. He would never escort you.'_

_Shut it, Milajuaro. Let a woman dream._                                                                                                                                                                                                

"Ah, Aida Verron. You're back already? I hope you have some interesting information to present to me."

Overcoming her feelings, she blinked a nod at Aizen and she began smoothly,"Yes, Lord Aizen. What I saw was certainly of interest. The fool released its Zanpakutō too quickly and got slain just as quickly," she walked forward towards the steps that led to Aizen's throne with her hands at the back that held the notepad firmly. Her face had gone from one that displayed no emotion to one full of curiosities, scratching her chin for the effect. "What truly perked my interest was the fact that the buffoon seemed to be on search of a boy named Ichigo Kurosaki. Do you know him?"

The question captured the man's interest making him sway his seated hand sway in the air as he began with a smile on his face,"Ichigo Kurosaki is a substitute soul reaper who came to Soul Society months ago to save Rukia Kuchiki. Aida, can you tell me the name of the arrancar I sent you to observe?"

Raising her eyebrow suspiciously she answered smoothly,"Grand Fisher. But why do you ask, my Lord?" The man before her chuckled before responding,"the arrancar you saw today is one that murdered the mother of Kurosaki years ago. Months ago, it went to Karakura Town in its hollow form only to get injured by the boy. It was seeking revenge."

Her mouth formed an 'o' shape and she nodded carefully, letting the information she received from Lord Aizen sink slowly. It was interesting. Aizen sent the lowly arrancar onto Karakura Town to possibly observe the reaction and strength of Ichigo. Quite unfortunate for him, it was the senior Kurosaki's reaction whose reaction he will know of.

_'You're really letting him know?'_

_I have no choice, Milajuaro. I may love Isshin as well as everyone in Soul Society, but I have a debt to pay_. And besides, weren't you the one persisting me to tell him, huh?

_'Well I changed my mind!'_

_You're one bipolar spirit._

"Who killed the arrancar?" He asked, leaning his head against his propped arm, eyes boring into Aida's green ones who licked her lips before answering in a heart beat.

"Isshin Kurosaki."

Aizen's face remained unfazed, a smile still on his face except it was directed somewhere in the distance now. He seemed to have been in a thought and not there, right before her. It confused young Aida right there and then. Why wasn't he surprised? Or disappointed?

"Just as I expected."

 _What_?!

He swiftly turned his gaze back to the girl standing before him, the same small smile glistening on his perfect facial features. He leaned ahead towards the curious girl who upon instinct quickly give her notepad to him. He held it in his hand and began,"Thank you for your work, dear Aida. I shall call upon you tomorrow for a mission. You can return to Grimmjow now."

She nodded before bowing and climbing down the stairs of his throne. After exiting the throne room, she led out a sigh of relief whilst leaning against the cold concrete wall and slid down it until her posterior finally hit the cold ground with a small thud.

Today's meeting with Aizen was so peculiar to her. First, she noticed the absence of Tousen and Ichimaru next to Aizen which was so unlike them given how the three were practically attached at the hip as far as she could remember. Not seeing them with him made her eyebrow raise. Second thing she caught onto was the lack of espadas present in the room whilst she presented her room. Even Ulquiorra was not present who presumably left before she questioned Ichigo's link to the Arrancar as there was no spiritual pressure she could detect beside hers and Aizen's. It almost felt like Aizen did not want anyone to know of what had happened. But,  _why_?

All this was mind-boggling to her, but again it was too early for her to jump to conclusions. Like a good sleuth, she decided to let more events transpire before she could come up with a possible conclusion to it all.

Before she could get up, her eyes were distracted by the massive bulky figure that stood before her, eyes bored but glinting with fury at the same time. Oh no. She has been busted.

"Lord Grimmjow!"

She regretted uttering his name with formalities because that resulted in the man to raise his hand and smack her upside on the head, making her scowl as she began to rub that part furiously, green eyes fixated on the man before her.

"First, it is just Grimmjow to you; we've been over it a thousand times. Second, where in the hell were you, dumbass!?" He asked, his voice raising suddenly. His voice was not only loud on a regular but deep too so hearing him speak even louder than usual made her ears hurt a tad bit; she had sensitive hearing and funnily she had the loudest espada for head.

"I was gone to run errands for Aizen," she replied, eyes rolling dramatically before placing the back of her against her forehead with her eyes closed and whispering,"Nobody understands the struggles of having double occupations as a mere arrancar with no title." She was going to continue her act but was stopped by the Sexta Espada who caught her in a headlock with his bare bulky arms, pressing her cold figure tightly against his rather warm one and started to walk ahead with a defeated Aida who had long submitted to him and was just attempting to keep pace with her small legs in ratio to his larger ones.

"I searched for your dumbass everywhere in this fucking place, but I couldn't find you anywhere dammit," He spoke with anger lacing his voice even though he held the woman against his chest in a firm manner though it seemed playful to her despite of how tight his grasp was. Whether the man was worried or not, it was not obvious but she sure as hell knew that even if he was, he would never admit it in nine lives. She hated making the only person she cared for all worked up.

"You should know that each time I'm gone, I'm doing Aizen's work."

"Well, I don't. It is not like we were once attached at the hip, you idiot."

"Oh but we are now."

"You're damn right we are."

Both came to a halt before Grimmjow and her's room. She reached out to twist the door knob but Grimmjow did so before she could, kicking it open with a smack even though he still had the young woman in a head lock. He took unnecessary advantage of their height difference and made sure she suffers for something she had no control or whatsoever over. She disliked it whilst he just savoured each moment of it.

Grimmjow, upon releasing the woman from her grasp, went over and threw his figure on the bed with a loud 'thump', splaying his arms over the large king-sized bed in an attempt to do eagle spread. His eyes closed slowly with the arrancar drifting off to sleep as his breathing evened to the rhythm of rising and falling of his chest. He looked so peaceful.

"If only you were normally as calm as you are when sleeping," she muttered under her breathing, shaking her head disenchantment searing in her voice.

"Shut your trap and lay down with me, bitch."

Crossing her arms against her small chest sassily, she perked her eyebrow in her superior's direction before saying,"But I don't lay with a cat. What if you give me asthma?" She knew this would tick him very well, and quite to her joy it did. The man had gotten up from his place and threw a glare with those electrifying blue eyes in her direction, growling underneath his breath. Upon catching the growl that was emitting from his throat, she threw her head back and began to laugh uncontrollably. Her Lord had actually growled like a cat he truly was.

"You..growled..like..a..cat!" She shouted between her laughs as her petite figure had slowly started to dissolve to the ground with her holding tightly onto her stomach as if she were protecting an unborn child from an opponent. She could not bring herself to a halt because even after all the time, he still had the elements of a wild cat to him.

Suddenly, she felt herself getting yanked off the ground and pushed against the nearest wall. That caused her laughter to die down and replaced with sounds of small winces escaping her lips.

"Dare calling me it again," He whispered into her ear, voice threatening and full of unleashed perils. One of his calloused hand held the side of her head against the wall whilst the other hand entrapped her's behind her tightly, not daring to let it go. His towering figure was pressed against her tinier one intimidatingly as his head was hovering right upon her shoulder so closely that she could feel his ragged breathing fan her neck and ear at the same time. She would be lying if she said she couldn't feel his threat thumping wildly against her back.

Their uncommon closeness had made her flustered with her mind running wildly like a horse with rabies. Instead of fright that Grimmjow wanted to instill in the heart of his subordinate, he had unintentionally made her think of things she would never say aloud. She did not if it was his closeness to her neck or the fact that his front was pressed tightly against her protruded posterior. Any way, the position he put her in unleashed a side of her she did not know exist the past year.

"N-no, Lord Grimmjow," she muttered in a low voice, trying not to moan or sound remotely sexually  aroused in fear of embarrassment by his hands. This was the first of the first she experienced such an exciting feeling.

"Tsk tsk. What is my name, woman?" He whispered huskily into her ear, sending shivers all the way down to her spine. She shivered in his grasp and it no doubt went noticed by the panther.

"Grimmjow Jaegarjaquez, my Lord," she replied timidly. Her teeth went down and grabbed onto the flesh of her lip whilst her eyes slowly closed in fear that the man would actually pull another stunt on her and she would be unprepared for it like at the moment.

In response to her answer, he twisted her arm and forced her further against the wall. Her breasts, that were knowingly exposed because of her arrancar uniform which comprised of cropped shirt, hakama and a zipped jacket with a horizontal oval shaped hole in it to expose her average-sized cleavage, touched the cold blue concrete wall, giving her goosebumps all over her body. The man who held her in his grasp smirked at how puny his subordinate was before him despite who she truly was. He loved how she was persistently shivering under him; he loved making her feel weak. This was an unfamiliar way he made her weak, and to be ruefully true he did not mind it so much.

"Wrong. Don't you call me 'Lord' again. Only ants that I can crush with my feet get to call me that," Releasing his strong hold on her before making her turn to him. She was looking innocently at him in his blue eyes with a mask of purity and innocence she wore before her superior could detect the lust that huffed and puffed beneath the cover. He grabbed onto one of her hands that hung beside her and brought it close to his face. Her hand making contact from his rough hands to the softness of his face made her feel giddy. He nuzzled his face into her hand as she watched in awe the gruff man closing his eyes at settling the side of his free face into her small hand; he began in a low voice, "You aren't an ant, you're never going to be."

Aida melted at his words. She knew there was a softer side to him ever since he found her in the desert ten years ago, dying and devolving back into her older adjuchas form. He was a cold-blooded brute then — he still was — merciless, but he dared not devour her.   
  
  


_"Another worthless adjucha."_

_Only after hearing the declaration, she felt herself being dragged off the rock before landing on the sand again with a loud 'thump!'. After a further more dragging in the sand, she was placed on the bare sand. She could not care._

_She felt the moonlight being blocked from landing on her face and that made her open her eyes to pale royal blue ones staring into hers. She jumped at the adjucha's face closeness to her's, making her crawl back until her back made contact with a rock. The animal took slow strides towards her causing her to gulp down her spit out of fear. She was so afraid of the creature that her mind had forgotten the searing numbness spreading all over her body slowly._

_"Who are you and how are you fucking emitting such strong reitsu despite looking so awfully.._ _weak and pathetic_ _?" On a good day she would have tossed an insult at the creature with awfully heavy and husky voice, but given her condition she quickly answered,"I'm Aida. Aida Verron, and it's because I think I was someone significant in the past; I cannot remember."_

_The panther looking adjucha scoffed at the low answer and shook his head in disappointment before saying,"You're too cowardly to be ever significant though your reitsu can speak for you." The insult was meant to hurt her, but at that moment she could not care any less. She just wanted to sleep. She looked lazily at the hollow with a defeated smile and uttered,"I'm going to die anyways, does it matter anymore?"_

_The creature huffed a 'pathetic' under his breath before running off into another direction. The girl relaxed and leaned against the rock as she raised her hands to her face and saw the sharp bony fingers staring back at her. She wanted to cry and wail, but she was too tired and defeated to do that anymore. She wanted to die a hero from her past, not a fucking weak disgraceful hollow who ought to be chopped and faded by the hands of her former shinigami friends, no. She wanted to be a hero, get married, have children and serve the soul society._

_But then she was betrayed and turned into a mindless creature wandering endlessly in the_ _deserts of this hell, first lacking conscious only to get a grip later on over her mind_ _; she looked how she once_ _appeared_ _except now_ _she had a mask concealing her features from the world with the skin of a wolf coating her skeletal body_ _._

_She hated this. She hated herself._

_She wanted to die._

_Her thoughts were interrupted by something really massive thrown at her feet. With a shriek she jumped and looked at the thing with cautious eyes; it was an adjucha much like her but very large. It was in shape of a large monkey and it laid dead before her feet. 'How did it land in my feet?' she thought, eyes still upon the pitiful dead thing._

_Her question was immediately answer when the panther she saw ganging on her walk out of the shadows of the scene slowly and motion the female adjucha,"Eat." She looked at him with her head tilted curiously before shaking her head slowly and answering with,"I can't anymore. I feel like an animal."_

_"We're all animals here, you and I. I know you were someone important in the past and if you truly want to go back to being that person, then fucking eat, you stubborn bitch," the wild cat commanded her, voice indicating his slight annoyance and impatience towards the woman who had refused a free meal contently._

_This made her think of her home she had long started to forget about. She thought of Shinji, Yama-jii and everyone that made her the person she was then, whoever she was. She wanted to see them. She knew they would be appalled at how she looked now, but as a Vasta Lordes they might accept her. That was her only hope now._

_She had a motivation to continue feasting on these creatures, all thanks to a panther with superior-complex and anger management issues. She slowly scurried towards the dead adjucha at her feet and was onto taking a bite when a question popped in her mind._

_"What's your name?"_

_The creature rolled his eyes at her before muttering,"Grimmjow."_   
  
  


"Grimmjow," she whispered softly at the handsome but gruff man who still held her hand. Looking at his face and just how innocent in the moment, she could swear her body had been swarmed with emotions of protectiveness and another one she could not put a finger one; it made her want to hold him close to her forever.

"Hmm?" He muttered, his eyes opened to close into her's. Her face had a soft smile on which Grimmjow found vexing but oddly tolerable in times of darkness which the two arrancars endured in the past decade.

"I would die for you."

The confession brought a wicked grin on the espada's face. He knew it was a heart-felt confession and one that came from the bottom of the woman's heart. He knew well if she had to, she would actually put her life in line for him. He lowered himself and grabbed her other hand and placed both of them on his broad shoulders, bringing the woman close to himself. After removing his hands from hers, he grabbed onto her waist with them and brought his forehead against her's. He looked down into his fraccion's eyes with an emotion other than anger and whispered,

"I know you would."

It was one of the rare intimate moments they shared from time to time out of respect with each other. Just like her, he had deep respect and affection towards her that he only never express out in the open or at all. However, both knew they only had each other in the world. Aizen didn't matter, the shinigami didn't matter, the war that ought to take place soon didn't matter.

Only they did.

"Alright, bitch enough of this stupid sappy shit; you're making me want to throw up. I feel tired as shit anyways. Lay down with me this instant."

' _Oh, Grimmjow._ ' she thought happily before complying.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh, if it isn't obvious Grimmjow is a little ooc in this book towards my oc. Those moments appear ooc bc they kind of are. If anyone does not like it, do tell me. I'd love to hear your thoughts!


	3. Chapter 3

" ** _ULQUIORRA AND AIDA ARE ALL REQUESTED IN LORD AIZEN'S THRONEROOM THIS INSTANT. I REPEAT: ULQUIORRA_** -"  
  


"Mfn?" was all Aida could muster after successfully pulling her head out of the sheets that she was wrapped in like a burrito. Her eyes were half closed and the voice that grabbed her attention had died down after repeating the order, making her groan. She looked around the room to find Grimmjow laying flat on his stomach with his eyes closed and mouth opened by a centimeter, snoring silently. She herself was laying at the other side of the bed collected and wrapped perfectly.

Their positions made her confused to a minimum, for both slept in their respective sides, not twisted, turned and attacked by sheets and pillows like they were now.

' _Whatever_ ,' she thought lazily before prying all the sheets off her body with difficulty and jumping out of the bed, scratching her head clumsily.   
  
  


After taking a quick shower and fixing her uniform and most important of all- her hair, she whispered her whereabouts to the snoring panther and closed the door to their room, running towards Aizen's throneroom in a hurry with hope that Ulquiorra had not made it there yet. But again, knowing the law-abiding son of a bitch, she knew he probably sonido-ed his way into the throneroom before the order could be repeated.

' _Sonido. Why the hell am I not doing that instead of running_?' With that, she performed the arrancar version of shunpo and found herself standing before Lord Aizen, panting like a dog, who was looking at the woman that had appeared before him with eyes full of boredom. She felt guilty for it and led out a short nervous giggle, rubbing the back of her neck lazily with a simple 'sorry' mustered. She looked to her right and found Ulquiorra standing next to her, eyes set upon Aizen without even sparing a glance at the late beside him.

"Now that Aida is here, I will give out your first mission to the world of living, Ulquiorra. What you have to do today is gather information on Kurosaki Ichigo, the substitute soul reaper I briefed you on. Engage in a battle with him and educate yourself on all things about his movement, his zakpakutou, his reitsu," Ulquiorra nodded at Aizen's command like a loyal pet and upon seeing his response, Aizen turned at the woman standing next to his loyalist and continued,"as for you Aida, I want you to simply write an immediate report for me on whatever happened. You study the boy too. Do not engage in battle until it becomes unavoidable. Understood?"

She nodded quickly at his command which made Aizen smile,"Go on now, you both. Get your job done and come back to me."

The espada and fraccion both took a bow before walking out of the room. Ulquiorra began to lead her out in an open space to open the garganta with his zakpakutou without so sparing a glance at her. She would be lying if she said she did not loathe this silence between them. It irked her, and she wanted it to die as soon as possible. She hated lack of communication with anyone as a talkative person, and so the absence of a communication link between her and Ulquiorra made her feel like she was walking on fire in the deepest pits of hell whilst suppressing the urge to scream. Que her dramatics.

"Where are you two headed?"

Turning around, both found the espada diez standing and looking down at them. He had his arms crossed against his humongous chest with a sinister smirk displayed across his chest. Ulquiorra, without fully turning back like Aida did, answered,"To the world of living; we have a mission." The girl with him nodded, giving the broader and taller but inferior in rank espada a look of displeasure. She loathed him with all her might and she had a handful of reasons why.

"Interesting. I want to join," He announced his desire which made the fraccion roll a ninety-degrees before turning towards Ulquiorra, hoping he'd give an answer which was suited to their comfort, and she knew very well what it was.

"No."

The answer made Yammy throw his hands in the air and begin an argument with the cuatro espada which included a lot of insisting on letting him join the duo in this mission. In the end, the Verron girl was left rubbing her temples with Yammy joining them as Ulquiorra opened a garganta to the human world.

It was only after the pathway had enclosed upon them that the girl remembered she had forgotten her notepad with Sosuke.

"Hell!" She exclaimed angrily, holding her head in her hands whilst they were travelling down to Earth with speed of light. She was in so much trouble for forgotten her only requirement back at Hueco Mundo. Aizen was going to give her a good ear for the clumsiness she displayed today.

"Whatever happened?" Ulquiorra asked without glancing at her, knowing the clumsy woman had forgotten the notepad she was required to report everything to Aizen in back in Hueco Mundo. He knew so when he noticed her empty hands hanging to her sides lazily as she was walking behind him with her mind probably elsewhere.

"I forgot my notepad," she whispered to him as she stood only inches away from him. She knew she was going to get some hearing from him but no scolding escaped his pale lips. In fact, no words came out of his mouth after this which were directed towards her, making her feel worse than she already did so. She had possibly displeased him, but there was no certain way of telling so given the fact that he stood ahead of her without facing her and that he never showed any emotions or whatsoever.

She hated this.

After a few moments of travelling in air, the trio landed on surface of Earth with a massive explosion going off upon their landing. After the dust had settled , she looked down to realise they had made an enormous crater into the ground which might have possibly caught everyone around's attention. She turned her gaze upwards only to see tips of numerous trees surround the three of them which made her guess they either landed in a public park or a forest.

Her attention was snatched from her surrounding when Yammy groaned and began,"I came here a lot with my mask on, but it's still as dull as ever! The spirit particles here are so sparse I can hardly breathe." He had a satisfactory look upon his tanned face that made the girl want to barf.

Crossing her left around to grab onto her right one beneath her breasts she threw him a look of annoyance and muttered,"Nobody asked you to come here with us."

Ulquiorra began right after her,"Quit complaining. I did say that we could deal with this on our own. You're the one who insisted on coming, Yammy" He was glaring at the tenth espada from the corner of his eye, figuratively as irritated as Aida was.

Clearly tired of being in the same place as the inferior espada, the fraccion began to climb out of the hole to look for the Kurosaki boy, but was instead met by many faces looking at the hole that they were culprits behind. She found being surrounded by so many entities weird, but not uncommon. She was regularly sent on Earth and had now grown accustomed to how times had changed with twelve centuries passing by, and truth to be told, she did not mind it. She liked the change she was witnessing on Earth with female empowerment and equality. It was a sight she would have only thought of once upon many centuries ago.

She was not only occupied with looking at the gathering humans that surrounded the place but the countless trees that surrounded the area. She loved it. She loved the nature and walking in midst of it. All she wanted to do was escape the two and walking in between the thousands of trees and breathe in some fresh air, enjoying the sound of woodland creatures filling her ears.

But now was not the time.

Looking around, she found Yammy literally sucking the souls of tens- no, hundreds of humans that were not only present on the scene but at a distance from it. She turned her foot and tried to make a run and stop the beast from taking lives of the innocent, but she felt an arm against her abdomen, blocking her from running over to halt this madness. Trailing the pale arm that was placed on her abdomen, she found it to be belonging to none other than the cuatro espada, eyes locked with her's and beginning,"It's of no use. There is no stopping this imbecile when he does this."

That made her sigh and watch Yammy take thousands of souls with one suck without any remorse or whatsoever. Ulquiorra upon seeing the defeat reigning in her eyes dropped his hand to the side and watched the half-witted worthless creature continue his show.

Once he was done, Aida watched the dead humans drop to the ground like cards with no anchor to hold them. The loss in her eyes had been replaced with fury as she tossed an angry glare in Yammy's direction who had the audacity to complain about the souls of the humans being disgusting. Oh how much she simply wanted to grab him bu his horse's tail for pony and simply murder him.

"I had to eat them. They were looking at us like we were some show piece."

"These people can't see us. It's not like they were looking at you." said Ulquiorra with his calm but dispassionate voice. His eyes were staring ahead whilst Yammy was looking down at the number of dead humans that were sprawled on the grass.

"Still! They pissed me off."

The impenitence in his voice made Aida's patience snap. She stepped from her distant location to standing in front of him, fury blazing in her eyes and started, "Get over yourself, you piece of shit. They were humans who simply were living their lives. You did not need to devour their souls nor did they deserve having their souls devoured by a moronic spoiled good for nothing like you."

Her words made Yammy only throw his head back and laugh heartily at Grimmjow's smallest fraccion. Once he was done, he looked back down at her and began,"Getting empathetic towards humans now, are you? If I hadn't known, I wouldn't even believe such an emotional and weak arrancar was Grimmjow's fraccion."

His words stung less and burned a fire in her soul more. Gritting her teeth, she did her best not to release her spiritual pressure upon him or wide in the open. Grimmjow had taught her better, and she was not going to disappoint him before this doltish espada. So she did was she was good at, swallow her pride and conceal her anger.

When Yammy received no answer from Grimmjow's fraccion, he only smirked in victory and changed the topic, beginning a new conversation with Ulquiorra,"So? How many people should we kill?"

"Just one. We do not need to kill anyone else."

"There are so many of them, but we're only killing one?"

"Apparently, in this world, there are at most three people with enough spiritual pressure to put up a fight against the three of us. Everyone else is trash. Finding him is going to be easy."

 _'I don't want to fight, but I have no other choice. I forgot my notepad, and it's been a long time last time I took part in a genuine fight.'_  she thought solemnly to herself.

' _Great. Finally I'll be used in a figh_ -' Milajuaro was cut off once again by Ulquiorra.

"Aida. Hide behind one of the bushes and do not engage in any fighting unless it's imminent," Ulquiorra commanded, repeating the last words of Aizen to her, making her groan. She did not want to fight against mere humans, but at the same time she did not want to hear Milajuaro whine persistently in her mind. It had truly been a while Milajuaro had experienced a decent fight, and for a zanpakutou it was too obsessed with fighting. All it wanted to do was shed blood, and keeping it depraved from slaughtering left to right was like starving a carnivore for days.

' _NO_.' Milajuaro cried out in her head, making the girl roll eyes internally. It has already begun it seems.

"I would like to stay here and not fight until necessary," she told him as politely as she could. She did not want to be a wuss and hide behind bushes. She was powerful though she never dared showing it to anyone except Grimmjow. But today, she was not going to wound her pride any further and hide.

She will stand.

The cuatro espada nodded and replied,"Fine. Have it your way as long as you do not engage in fighting." His words made her smile and nod happily before her gaze went upon a staggering human who was standing up after legitimately surviving Yammy's soul-sucking episode. The human she was presuming to be a girl with dark hair shorter than her was attempting to stand up after what had happened but halted herself upon seeing the approaching figures of both the espadas.

"She can see us," announced Aida almost surprisingly. She found a mere human having the capability of seeing them quite intriguing and astounding at the same time, and on top of that, she also survived Yammy's attack.

Yammy gave the girl a massive toothy grin that according to Verron might have scared her half to her death and spoke,"So, my Gonzui Soul Inhalation didn't suck out your soul. You must have spiritual energy in there somewhere or otherwise!"

'I pray he doesn't hurt her,' she thought to herself, shaking her head almost disappointingly. If he does hurt her or anyone other than the Kurosaki boy, she might end up protecting them.

Why? She did not know but it was like felt like an instinct to her; something that she did not do in this life but must have done in the past. She could not remember, but she felt the urge to defend the innocent humans. Putting it one way, she was only obeying Aizen's orders after all.

"Ulquiorra!" Yammy called out to the espada who now stood a good distance away from him. "Is this the one?"

"Take a good look, you fool. Her soul is about to break just from being near you. She's just trash," He replied calmly, his hands still dug in his hakama and observing the fool who was frightening the human girl to her core.

After muttering incoherent things, Aida saw Yammy raise his leg to kick the shaking girl in the face. Her same instinct, getting the best of the scenario made her use sonido and stand between Yammy and the girl, raising her hand to stop his kick from hurting the girl, but instead his feet collided with something else. Looking to her right, she found the thing that prevented the kick from even landing on her or the girl.

It was a tall boy with olive skin-colour who looked to be in his adolescence years with a uniform form protecting both. Upon taking a better look, she saw a hard covering upon his entire arm which had two protruding points from his shoulder on and was coloured black and burgundy. She was curious on what it was, but the events ought to take place moments later would make her forget all about it until later in foreseeable future.

Looking back, she found the girl being defended by another one who looked far weaker than she did, but showed resilience of any book's main hero. 'Interesting,' Aida thought to her self, also thankful someone was looking out for the girl now.

Her attention turned back to Yammy who looked at pure disgust towards Grimmjow's fraccion who intended to protect a weakling against him.

"Protecting humans against your own comrades now, Verron? You disgust me and bring shame on Grimmjow's reputation in Hueco Mundo," he spat in her direction.

The girl who stood back up and glared at the man with fire dancing in those lime-coloured eyes spat right back,"Using your brute strength against the weak? You're the one who is disgusting here, Yammy."

The man scoffed at the girl who had stepped behind Ulquiorra again and turned his attention at the two other saviours, raising his eyebrow in their direction and asking who they were.

Meanwhile behind him the cuatro espada had taken a step back to get closer to the girl behind him and ask in a low whisper,"Why did you try protecting that trash?"

Aida raised her head in his direction and met his eyes with force and answered without missing a beat, "It's Lord Aizen's order for us not to engage with any other person except for the boy. Instead of preying upon the weak, it would be wise for us to stick to our goal and return back without creating any massive scene which would attract more trouble than we bargained for by bringing Yammy with us."

The entire time Ulquiorra was looking at her face which remained stoic throughout her speech. For someone so clumsy and irresponsible, she had said something rational which even he agreed upon but that still did not quench his thirst regarding his question. She had another reason behind protecting that piece of trash, and he made sure he kept this at the back of his mind.

Aida heard him whisper a sound of agreement and turn his attention back to Yammy who had asked him a question to which he gave a retorted reply, making her scoff and shake her head. She turned her gaze onto the boy with mysterious arm who had gathered bright spiritual energy and released it upon Yammy, blinding her in the eyes once again. Once her eyes had grown used to the brightness emitting from this attack, she watched Yammy counter the attack with a punch that broke the boy's arm. Shocked and appalled, she used sonido and rushed to the boy's side, the energy he emitted dead and him laying on the ground. Seeing his condition, her eyes were giving another glare and it was only directed at the giant espada standing before her.

Pulling her zanpakutou out out of its scabbard, she twisted it in the air from its hilt forming a perfectly round circle with its tip before uttering,"Milajuaro, defend." The airy roundness had come into being as an enlarged black translucent shield materialised against the brute who stood, almost shocked.

She turned around to find the ginger surrounding the boy's injured arm with a strange field that seemed to be healing his arm back into its former shape. But how could that be possible?

"Hey girl," the girl turned her attention towards the woman who was dressed similar to the men who tried to harm her friends, a dour look cast upon her almost innocent features,"heal your friend while I deal with this maniac."

Yammy's eyes were on the traitorous arrancar that stood her ground protecting weaklings from him, and when she had turned her attention to him, he began throwing insults at the woman,"You think you and your pathetic zanpakutou can stop me from crushing those weaklings, you traitorous bitch?" He raised his leg and with all his might kicked the shield she had made.

It came to no avail.

He kicked it again.

No harm came upon it.

He stood back and took a closer look at it. The shield looked like any ordinary shield; it could be crushed easily, then why did he face difficult with destroying it? What was it made of?

'You can't harm this shield with your feeble kicks, Yammy. Not even in a million years,' she thought smugly crossing her arms against her chest in amusement.

Just when Yammy was going to land a punch onto the shield, Aida heard a shrill voice behind her scream,"Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun!" A bright light began emitting from behind which made her turn behind to watch the healer little girl have a blazing yellow luminescence dancing in her hands before sputtering it at Yammy above the woman's head. A small sharp object flew in Yammy's direction with speed of light, hoping to bring harm upon him. The fraccion was not surprised even a bit when the diez espada deflected it with his bare hands, crushing it into pieces.

"What was that, a fly?" He scoffed as the particles of that object fell to the ground like mere ashes whilst the girl behind her uttered incomprehensible words of disbelief.

'I cannot believe this stupid girl. Does she really think she has a chance against Yammy?' thought Aida, anger surging through her. The girl was being foolishly naive. She snapped her neck in the girl's direction and spoke angrily, "Are you stupid, little girl? I told you to concentrate on healing your friend, not attack the man. Did you even listen to a word I said?"

The red-head sitting on the ground Indian-style with her head handing and hands gripping tightly onto the skirts of her uniform uttered in a voice that clearly indicated she was soon to cry, "But you're the enemy here. I need to protect my friends."

"I am the enemy, yes, but right now I am protecting you and your friends from that bastard. Understand that. I will not let him bring harm upon you, got it?" the girl nodded slowly and turned her attention into healing her friend's arm which made Aida scoff and look back at Yammy who had thrown a punch at her standing shield and failed ultimately in breaking it.

Yammy looked at the mere fraccion with distaste burning in his eyes, hatred fueling with each passing second in his body directed at the woman who dared defending the weak against him.

"Grimmjow will not like when he hears about you defending weak trash. Oh how he will treat his fraccion that he came into Las Noches with," Yammy taunted the girl who looked at the walking talking epitome of garbage with her eyes searing with irritation converged at only one animal. She just loathed him, and his actions today just added kerosene unto the burning fire. Throughout this nonsense, Aida was only praying her patience doesn't snap and she releases even a fraction of her spiritual energy.

The Diez espada began to take long strides from side to side, a hand to his chin, pretending to think to add onto the dramatics and opened his filthy mouth again,"I wonder if he'll abandon you and your odd relationship or if he'll murder you on spot. If he is as much of a rough man behind the doors as he is outside, then he might punish you for this very brutally! Or maybe he'll simply rape you into submission if he was too angr-"

The woman had enough. She could tolerate personal insults aimed at her, she could tolerate people wounding her pride because it did not mean anything to her. She could tolerate people degrading her strength, but there was one thing she could not stand even in a hundred years; some cowardly person mocking her relationship with Grimmjow or simply disrespecting both of them in such a perverse manner. If people did not respect them, they knew countless ways of bending them into doing so.

She grabbed her unsheathed sword with her right and whipped it in the air with simply words,"Milajuaro, breathe." and with that, the energy that had been whipped out of the sword took the impersonation of a large black wolf's face, growling before engulfing Yammy entirely in itself. The dark energy surrounded Yammy in a black spherical ball before bursting into coal-coloured flames.

It was no energy that blinded anyone on the spot, but it was enough to astound the likes of the fragile girl behind Aida and the other wounded girl. The humorous thing about this attack was the fact that it wasn't quarter of what Milajuaro was truly capable of.

'That was a slow whip even for you, Aida. You should've done better,' Milajuaro spoke, and the woman could hear the pout in her zanpakutou's voice. Had it been different circumstances, she would have found it cute. Not now. She was too angry and trying really hard to restrain her spiritual pressure from being emitted at the moment.

When the ashes had settled, Verron saw a burned Yammy walked out of the chaos without any major injuries aside the burns here and there upon his gigantic figure. She could see the pounding fume coming out of his ears, and it was a well-expected reaction from a hot-head belittled in such a manner by a mere fraccion.

"Don't you ever utter my name or Grimmjow's in such a demeaning manner, you perverted filth. Take this as your first and last warning or next time it won't be Milajuaro just breathing on you; he'll be howling down upon you like the devil you've never seen in any of your past lives."

Her words made him even more livid than her already was, and so with a battle cry he ran at the woman with fists raised, ready to end her life there and now when a certain shinigami stopped the espada from taking one more step via his zanpakutou's tip pointing at his hands.

"About damn fucking time, Ichigo Kurosaki."

 


	4. Chapter 4

" ** _ABOUT DAMN FUCKING TIME KUROSAKI_**."  
  
  


Aida's attention was upon the substitute soul reaper who had stopped Yammy's forthcoming fists with his peculiar zanpakuto. His presence had made the air grow so thick, had she been human she would have felt faint. The boy standing ahead with his back facing her had his eyes set on the gigantic espada, not showing any signs of agitation or whatsoever. He was as fearless as she had expected him to be.

The girl who once stood behind you had now shifted her position next to Aida, her eyes brimming with tears as she called out the boy's name. Ichigo turned around to lock eyes with the emerald-eyed woman for a few seconds, a look of distrust and confusion cast in them, before they diverted to the girl standing alongside her. The fraccion understood why his eyes were glimmering with lack of trust aimed at her; she was dressed as one of the enemies who dared bring harm upon his friends and shared similar stony faces.

"Sorry for being late, Inoue. I'm sorry," the substitute soul reaper mustered his apology at the girl who apologised right back, her voice dying down to one lower than a mere whisper. It was almost like both were humiliated about their own respective mistakes.

The boy lowered his head for a moment, whispering to the girl,"Don't apologise, Inoue" and then proceeded to raise his head over-confidently and shout at the arrancars standing in his midst,"I'll beat them, and this will be all over." And with that, he grabbed onto his other arm before unleashing his bankai, emitting a light blue glow from his zanpakuto. This time the blinding light had no impact on Verron's eyes for the shield she had built deflected it into a direction other than its own. So the female arrancar stood with her hands behind her back, Milajuaro hanging from one of them loosely knowing no entity had capability of sneaking up on her and attacking her without knowledge.

When the light had faded away, she saw the Kurosaki boy dressed in a whole another attire other than his shihakusho. It was black from head to toe, the back of it ripped and flowing freely behind him. His zanpakuto had transformed into a slim long katana coated with black paint with a dark chain hanging from its hilt. Had the circumstances been different, Aida would have complimented the way his sword looked.

' _That sword is no match to me in my true forms,_ ' scoffed Milajuaro in her head, confidence dancing in his tone. Of course, her zanpakuto's spirit not only had to be blood-thirsty and hot-headed but a narcissist too.

_I'm aware, Milajuaro. Truly you have no match when it comes to beauty._

Knowing the girl who went by the name Inoue was safe now that her knight in shining armour had arrived, Aida tightened her grasp upon her sword's hilt before raising it and stabbing the dark shield that she had built with it. A minor crack that had appeared from the stab expanded and spread onto the rest of the shield before it finally shattered into thousands of crumbling pieces that fell to the ground; later becoming black dusty particles that blew away in the air.

Ichigo had turned around at the sound of cracking and watched the mysterious woman who had protected his injured friends smash the dark barrier between them into pieces with one piercing of her sword. Her face remained expressionless the entire time the round wall broke and disintegrated into the air. He wanted to know why she, being the antagonist, had protected his friends. He could not let it go.

Aida turned her posture back at the crying ginger girl with the same dull face as she sheathed her sword slowly, eyes leering into her's before stating, "I overdid myself by protecting you and your weak kind. Last thing I want is to piss Aizen off, and besides your hero is finally here. It was nice meeting you. Goodbye now."

With that said, the woman used sonido to stand beside Ulquiorra who did not look at her but had his entire attention converged on the boy who had now without saying challenged Yammy to a quarrel. Aida, knowing she had no more business in this place anymore, crossed her against below her chest and stared on, observing and calculating the movements and rising but steady spiritual pressure of the Kurosaki boy. Prior to revealing his bankai, Ichigo's spiritual pressure had been well-hidden to the point even she was incapable of detecting it, but now it had made the air feel heavy down on her. It was interesting and another thing she could tell Lord Aizen to.

"Ulquiorra? Is it this guy?"

"Yes. I can't believe your wasteful violence smoked him out so easily The orange hair, the black sword. There's no doubt he is our target, Yammy."

"So he saved us from trouble of searching him."

With those words, Yammy attempted to punch him in the face but was deflected with Ichigo's sword, shaking and crumbling the ground underneath them. Aida and Ulquiorra were not surprised to the least; both were standing in their similar pose with emotionless looks cast upon their faces as they continued mentally noting the boy's zanpakuto's power. Aida found it fascinating whilst Ulquiorra had no opinion on it.

Ichigo stared at Yammy in the eyes and questioned with a voice laced with minimal anger and maximum seriousness,"Are you the one who wrecked Chad's right arm?"

The espada simply gave him a sinister smile before answering,"And so what if I am?"

What happened next was a blur to everyone except Ichigo. All Aida could pick from the past moments was Ichigo jumping in the giant's direction and Yammy's amputated arm falling to the ground with a loud 'thud!' Aida could only smirk at the screaming Yammy who lost all his temper seeing his arm on the ground with blood sputtering out of his wound. All the arrancar could think was 'well-deserved' and look at the Kurosaki boy, who was looking back at her, a grateful smile displayed on her fair features. At the moment he could not return it for he ran at Yammy again, his sword raised, continuing to fight with whilst Yammy could only dodge his attacks in his condition.

Ulquiorra broke into the fight, asking if he should take Yammy's position given just how the fight seemed tough for him now but the larger espada only told him to shut up. When he pulled out his zanpakuto, Ulquiorra threw another taunting question at him regarding using his sword against an opponent like Ichigo and Yammy told the cuatro espada to shut it yet again.

Aida knew fairly well Ulquoirra was only taunting him to test the waters and got the reaction he had expected from a buffoon like him.

For a good moment, the odds were with Ichigo. He seemed to have the upper-hand in this duel, but the tables did turn when Ichigo stopped for a good moment with his face in his hand as if in conflict with himself. Aida had made a quick note of that in her mind. Yammy being the opportunist he was, took advantage of Kurosaki staggering and kicked him right in the stomach, sending him flying back. Yammy trailed right to the boy who had Inoue rush to his aid even though Ichigo, who had his face slammed on the soil, warned her to stay back. Seeing Inoue attempt to pull another questionably foreign attack on him, the diez espada slapped her away.

Aida suddenly lost composure again and tried to rush to the unconscious girl's help but a certain body pulled her against himself. Turning around, she found Ulquoiorra to be the person who had pressed the woman to his chest. Their faces were only inches apart with Verron's eyes looking straight into Ulquiorra's.

"Let me help her, Ulquoirra," she demanded as her voice had suddenly become almost pleading. 

"You're not helping those trash anymore, Verron. If you so help another human again, I will be the one telling Lord Aizen of what you have been hiding from everyone all this time," his threat made her shudder. It was audible and clear, and she knew him to be an arrancar that always kept his word. She did not want anyone to know of her minor power show today. She had not let any reitsu out and despite of it, burned Yammy good. Yammy was too foolish to notice the lack of spiritual energy emitting from her during the attack, but Ulquiorra was not. He noticed it all. He was an all-seer. Nothing went unnoticed past his eyes.

And if she did not comply to him now, she had a great risk of being exposed by the hands of the cuatro espada, something that would displease Grimmjow to the maximum and that's the last thing she wished to do.

So she stopped. She pressed a hand on Ulquiorra's chest and pushed herself away from his hold and slowly walked behind him and stood stiffly in one place whilst Yammy continued beating the existence out of Ichigo. Her eyes had dropped to the green carpeted ground underneath her with her lips shaped like cupid's bow had curved downwards in sadness and sheer defeat. She felt disappointed with herself today. She had lost her cool before the most intelligent of espadas and revealed a fraction of her strength, making her his target of suspicion and curiosity. What made her loathe herself even more was the fact that she had no power over her instincts; she had rushed and protected humans in front of other arrancars which yet again, would make her a target of bullying and mockery. Sad thing is, she could not ever save them when she needed to.

She was so disappointed and full of hatred towards herself.

Her eyes looked up to the scene and found Ichigo's head held in Yammy's grasp. His spiritual pressure had gone erratic and he no longer held capability of moving anymore; it was figured by everyone. It had hit an all-time low now and Yammy only slammed him to the ground because of it. If Ichigo was going to die by the hands of that beast today, then Aida could do nothing to save him. She felt guilt-ridden and ashamed as she watched Yammy raise his fist to land one last blow on the boy.

 _I'm sorry I could not save your son, Isshin_.

Aida watched the dust clear and her hands had begun to shake after seeing who stood behind Yammy's fists again.

"Kisuke, Yoruichi," she whispered to herself, seeing the red shield that Urahara had formed to protect Ichigo from Yammy falter, revealing them completely in her naked eye.

Her past had come to haunt her again, and this time she could not even shield herself from it the way she did last time behind the rubble. She was bare, and she was only praying to all entities above they do not see her; that they rather concentrate on Yammy instead of sparing a glance in her direction.

Hands still shaking with her legs feeling wobbly, she took baby steps in Ulquiorra's direction and hid behind his taller figure without looking suspicious or whatsoever. Ulquiorra had obviously caught onto her looming figure standing so close behind him, but said nothing after sensing her fear from seeing the two soul reapers. She could only watch from his shoulder all that was happening with Kisuke's zanpakuto raised in the air before he lowered it to the ground.

He looked up and his eyes roamed from the large arrancar to the one who stood calm and collective at a good distance, his hands dug in the pockets of his hakama. Tilting his head by a few degrees he noticed a shorter figure standing behind the arrancar as if it were hiding. And judging by the well-round hips he could pick, he assumed it was a she after it all.

"Who is the pretty lady standing behind? Come out of the shadows now!"

Aida's stomach had dropped to him calling her out. Her hands were still shaking as vigorously as before, and only she knew just how hot her face had become, feeling the steam come out of her ears. She was frightened, but she could feel no sweat break on her body. Her mind was running left and right, and she could not feel her legs move as if paralysis had overcome them. All her might, all her composure, it all abandoned her and left a vulnerable Aida in the darkness with her past.

But before she was forced to come out, Yammy had began shouting,"One person after another getting in my way! By cutting in, you're only getting yourself killed first!" He raised his fists to attack Kisuke, but Yoruichi had grabbed him from his arm and tossed him aside with a crash, shaking the ground underneath them once again.

She took a deep sigh out of sheer relief, knowing Yammy practically saved her from exposing herself. Well, at least there was one thing she was thankful to Yammy for.

Her eyes were fixated on Yoruichi who effortlessly smashed Yammy's pride and strength to smithereens. She looked beautiful as she landed the last blow to Yammy's head, sending him to the ground unconscious.

Ulquiorra did not move neither did she. Both simply observed them like a pair of spy hawks, something that both possibly were. Luckily, they did not care at all. They were occupied in tending to the humans thankfully, according to Aida. She was glad Inoue was getting help from a captain she once knew so well.

Verron's eyes travelled towards Yammy whose showed signs of regaining consciousness. Yoruichi still had Inoue in her grasp when the espada had begun creating a cero in his mouth to launch at them. Aida, once again, felt the urge to help them but last thing she wanted was to expose herself to the only two people who recognised her from the past. No, she could not risk that at all.

So she watched and prayed as the cero blasted in their direction, the bright redness spreading everywhere, the explosion rocking the earth underneath them. When the air had cleared, she saw a sight that only made her sigh in relief the second time in one hour. Though there was a massive extended crack in the ground, Urahara had stopped the cero with his zanpakuto which made Yammy question on just who he was and whatever he did.

"Can't you see? If I repelled it, it would have endangered us so I hit it with something similar to cancel its effect."

Yammy was too stupid to understand whatever he had said in simplest of words,"Say what?"

Urahara tilted his hat so he can get a better look and began,"If you don't believe it, then shall I show it to you again?"

With that he shouted,"Scream, Benihime!" he released a red bolt similar to cero in all forms at Yammy which traveled in his direction with speed of light on the verge to hit him, but was deflected by the cuatro espada with a mere wave of his hand, sending the bolt flying upwards.

Aida was not entirely surprised at the way he threw off the attack like it were nothing. He was the fourth ranking espada in Aizen's army, one of the strongest of arrancars, a Vasto Lorde. She expected no less from a man of his ranking.

"Ulquiorra!" Yammy screamed in joy, believing the superior espada had come to rescue him as a fellow comrade. He thought wrong as Ulquiorra landed a punch into his stomach, sending him flying back, moaning and onto his knees.

"What was that for?!"

"You fool. You're too hot-headed, Yammy. That's Urahara Kisuke and Shihoin Yoruichi. At your level as it stands, you can't beat them," he spoke like he stated the obvious; which he did. He began to walk behind Yammy who still stood facing the two soul reapers, eyes raging.

Aida only seconds after this realised that Ulquiorra was standing feet away from her and there was no one she could hide behind. She never felt so naked. Her legs were going to buckle under her. Her arms had quit shaking, but hand now numbed at the thought of being seen again by the past she attempted to forget all these countless years.

"We're withdrawing," announced Ulquiorra to both Yammy and the fraccion who looked like she was doing to drop dead to the ground any moment now. The cuatro espada tapped the air, making the garganta open up for them to travel back to Hueco Mundo. When he looked back at Aida, she was still standing in her place like the times had frozen her right there and there. The woman's sullen behaviour was very vexing to Ulquiorra and he did not want to spend hours for that tramp to overcome her issues and get going. It would take days given her state.

"Aida, it's time to go."

Aida took slow stride towards the espada, attempting to hide her face behind her shoulder-length hair, hoping that neither of the two recognise her as she stood by Ulquiorra's side, ready to leave. She never had so many emotions hit her at once, and she could not wait to forget them all at Hueco Mundo.

All was going well for her as they aimed to jump into the garganta  but a voice had halted them in their steps,"Wait, Aida? Is that you?" It was what she had feared.

She slowly raised her head, brushing her hair out of her face and looked at Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi with the rawest emotions clouding her face, her lips curved downward as she stared at the two people she once knew so well and respected in the eyes.

From what Aida could notice, both soul reapers had gone into shock upon seeing the familiar face after a century. She hated it. She hated the shock on their face. She hated the way they were looking at her as if her being alive was a miracle. She hated the way they were looking, knowing she had sided against them.

' _You knew this day would come, Aida_.'

_Yes, and I always rued it._

"Aida? Is this really you?" Urahara asked, the first among the two to overcome the shock that had engulfed both soul reapers upon seeing their old friend alive and kicking right in front of them. She did not look like she had aged a day from last they had seen her. Yes, her light-brown hair was that once flowed all the way down to her knees had been cut short to her shoulder but other than that, she looked about the same she once did. Her forest-green eyes with fire blazing around the pupils, her oval-shaped face that once never had a smile decorate it except upon rare occasions, her small figure adorned with curves that made her always an eye-candy for the men of soul society and yes, her aura. Her fiery aura that seemed practically non-existent at the moment.

The woman gave the man a small sad smile before greeting in a low but stoic voice, "Hello, Kisuke. Hello, Yoruichi. It's been a while." Those were her first words to them, and she wanted them to be her last.

Before any more conversation could take place, Ulquiorra butted in,"It's time we leave, Aida. Aizen is waiting for us."

The woman turned to the cuatro espada and nodded, turning her gaze away to step foot in the pathway first, but was interrupted yet again by the same voice.

"Wait, Aida! Did you seriously side with Aizen? How could you do that?"

The woman threw a look of annoyance at him, not willing to invest further into the conversation or those emotions that have been nagging her to go and hug them, begging to feel anything other than this void that she had to live with for the past century and decade. But that was not her anymore. She has changed, she kept telling herself.

Unsheathing her sword, she turned her gaze to the ground before muttering the chant,"Breathe, Milajuaro" as she point the tip of her zanpakuto between Urahara and Yoruichi, releasing a black bolt of lightning that exploded mid-way which gave the arrancars enough time to walk into the garganta and leave. 

 _I'm sorry_.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**SHE NEVER THOUGHT SHE WOULD BE SAYING THIS, BUT AIDA WAS HAPPY TO BE BACK AT LAS NOCHES.**   
  


Taking a deep breath and exhaling it in the moment, she smiled upon exiting the garganta and walking straight towards Aizen's palace. She was relieved to be back and not dealing the flurry of emotions that she had been bombarded with on in the Human World. It felt as if stepping on the ground of the dead, she had turned into a stone, barred of all the feelings she had been feeling the moment Urahara had called her out, she had met their eyes or when she dared attacking the same people she had sworn to protect in another life.

The trio who had returned from the world of living were walking side by side en route to Aizen's throne-room who patiently awaited the arrival of his three arrancars, hoping they had gained information to hand over to him and experienced what it is like to quarrel with the soul reapers.

As they neared the room, Aida picked many spiritual energies coming from the very room and she had grown suspicious at the numerous familiar spiritual pressure all present in one could. Could it be Aizen had gathered all the espadas together perhaps to let them hear what the two espadas and fraccion had to say about their experience.

Nonetheless she expected no good from this gathering, especially given what she had done today from the beginning to the very end.

All three stepped into the darkness of the room silently, seeing Aizen was seated on his throne, hand propped and pressed against his cheek with eyes closed as if he were awaiting their arrival almost patiently. Aida's eyes surveyed the blackness of the room with the only light shining upon Aizen, figuring each person standing in the shadows. After a moment or so, she realised the room had been packed with espadas and her fellow fraccions as well as other arrancars that had strength radiating off of them. She would be lying if she had said the presence of so many powerful hollows like her self did not make her nervous.

She turned her gaze back to Aizen before taking a knee and standing straight next to Ulquiorra whilst the burned and beaten Yammy stood behind both, still bowing.

"We have returned, Lord Aizen," Ulquiorra announced, his eyes only on Aizen and not even taking a second look at the numerous arrancars he, Verron and Yammy were in midst of.

Aizen put on his most pleasant of smiles as he opened his eyes to look at the three arrancars that stood below him before beginning,"Welcome back, Ulquiorra, Yammy and Aida. Now, tell me what you accomplished before your twenty brethren."

Aida took a gulp and began quietly, "Lord Aizen, as you may know-"

He interrupted her mid-sentence with an almost sincere smile and spoke, "You forgot your notepad with me, it is quite alright, Aida. Next time, I want you to be much cautious and aware of everything." His words had guilt-tripped her, as per every mistake she always committed during her servitude in his line. She felt a pang of hurt and guilt filling her chest but she dared not showing it before everyone. Her face remained stony and she wanted to keep it that way until she is out of sight.

"Ulquiorra, show me what you saw and felt in the world of living. All of it," Aizen commanded the cuatro espada which made her look at him almost confused. Just how was he going to show him how he felt before all these people? How do you show your emotions of the past?

Ulquiorra whose face remained expression-less as always complied to the command with a "Yes, sir" and began to take out his left eye with his bare hands. When he had successfully done so, he held it in his grasp before crushing it into pieces, its particles emanating glitter and spreading over the room for each and every person to witness and experience whatever that had happened.

Aida felt her stomach turn into a knot after registering the fact that they would also be experiencing her protecting the wounded humans and attacking Yammy. They would also be hearing Yammy speak of Aida and Grimmjow in a humiliating way. They would be listening and witnessing all that had happened. It frightened her.

Instead of looking at anyone, she had turned her gaze to the floor, not daring to drop her head out of all the pride that was stored in her. She was not the best arrancar on Aizen's army, but she certainly was the most dignified one, always putting her dignity alongside Grimmjow's above anyone else. She never dared permitting anyone taint it a bit.

"Ah, I see" her eyes went over to Aizen who was done taking in the events that had unfolded on the world of living. "and so you decided that for what he was, he was not worth killing." Ulquiorra answered, "Yes. You ordered us to kill him if he seemed like he might hinder us."

Verron's head shot back when she heard a shout coming from the mouth of her superior that clearly went, "Such weakness!" She turned her gaze around to look at him sitting with his ankles crossed, knuckles pressed against the same cheek that had a bone fragment decorating it and a sinister smile showing his superiority-complex; something he suffered from even before both had met each other decades ago. He was surrounded by all his fraccions that he had picked aside Aida, all of them either smirking or holding cold expressions upon their faces similar to her.

The proud espada went on to claim, "I would have pulverised them with my first blow!"

Ulquiorra only spat the sexta espada's name in disgust, not wanting him to continue bragging anymore.

"However you reason it, if part of your order was to kill then it goes without saying you should have killed him!" he had continued, not paying heed to Ulquiorra calling his name in warning. He did not care. Grimmjow was a man who always got his point across without caring what his comrade had to say. He was repulsive and a brute, and he did it in his best interest not to hide either.

The sexta espada then began to target Yammy solo, "Hey, Yammy. You got beaten to a pulp, huh? You may state he was not worth killing, but it sounds to me you couldn't!"

Yammy could only bother giving him a side glance before saying, "Damn you, Grimmjow. Did you not just watch that? It was the man in sandals and the dark woman who beat me."

Grimmjow got up from his place and began to answer the inferior espada with fiery dancing in his electric eyes,"You just don't get it! I could have slaughtered those two with one blow as well!"

The arrogance and taunt in his tone towards Yammy only made the diez espada stand in defense and attempt attacking Grimmjow but was stopped by Ulquiorra who placed a hand on his chest and told him to halt in his steps. He then began to address Grimmjow rationally,"do you realise that our problem is not this fellow as he is now?"

"Huh?"

"Aizen is on guard not because of his present ability but because of his rate of development. Certainly, his latent abilities are considerable but they were disproportionately unstable for their size. If we leave him be, he could potentially destroy himself. Or, I realised, we could make him our pawn. That's why all three of us returned without killing him."

But Grimmjow could not care less for what he had just explained so intelligently and simply called it 'weak', claiming whatever would be happen if Ichigo could grow greater in power and turn on them. Ulquiorra only answered he would be the one ending his life.

Before the conversation could go any further, Aizen simply cut into it as his eyes travelling from his quarreling espadas to Aida who was silently observing the argument, unaware of the question he was going to ask her.

"So be it. Do as you see fit, Ulquiorra. Now onto the significant thing we all witnessed today: Aida defending the humans. Care to explain to us why protected such weak and feeble creatures against Yammy?"

What Aida had dreaded was brought into light. After all the Ichigo nonsense was over, her turned had come to answer for her vices today. No doubt she was seen under the eye of suspicion by every espada standing in the room, including her own superior. Oh, she hated this. She hated all of it.

Without daring to break her facial expression or her calm demeanor, she began with composure lurking in her thin voice, "My Lord, your command only held concern towards the boy, not any human that was on the scene or out of it. The humans had nothing to do with the boy or our mission. I was only attempting to decrease the number of casualties so that our presence would not have members of soul society knocking on our door-steps before the drums of the war rolled."

Nobody in the room objected to what she had said because it made sense, even to Aizen. After pondering over her words for a few moments, he only looked back at all three and nodded,"Okay, everyone. The meeting is over."

Within seconds, she saw every figure in the room exit with the speed of light and she only followed out just as quickly, feeling light-headed after feeling everyone's gaze on her in negative perspective. She had just dodged the label of 'traitor' on her, and had she not been careful with her words Aizen may have had her punished by the hands of his lap dog Tousen unfairly for only defending the weak and feeble.

Looking around herself, she realised she had sonido-ed herself in a random hallway nearby the cafeteria where they all sat and feasted at all times because there was no night here, just day. She took a deep sigh and began taking slow strides towards a table to sit down and relax on for a while. She was exceptionally exhausted and hungry at the moment. This particular day had made her feel countless emotions she always wanted to avoid and had forced her into raising her zanpakuto not only against her so-called comrade but her own former friends. She just wanted to relax the rest of the day.

But somethings are simply never in her fate.

Just when she had finally made way towards a table and sat on it with her head down and eyes closed, trying to enjoy the silence that hung in the empty place, her peace was interrupted by a loud deep voice belonging to only one person.

Grimmjow Jaegarjaquez.

"Oi, you!"

She raised her head from the table and looked at her superior with half closed eyes, tired and exhausted. Grimmjow had his arms crossed against his chest, a smirk on his lips and eyes that looked taunting and livid at the same time. Her was surrounded by all five of his other fraccions she did not get along very well with. They all were snickering except for D-Roy who coincidentally happened to be the only one amongst them with a functioning brain.

She did not like the way they were looking at her. She knew she was in deep trouble.

She slid off the chair and walked in front of Grimmjow before standing still right in front of him. Her eyes had lost their tiredness after her brain had began to come up with on-second theories regarding the way her fellow fraccions and espada were acting.

"What do you want, Grimmjow?" She asked trying her best not to sound tired or irritated with him. He only barked a laugh that almost sounded like he was deeming her pathetic. It stung, of course.

"You no longer have the right to call me Grimmow so informally. It's Lord Grimmjow to you now," He barked at her, his tone harsh and full of hatred towards the person he thought was close to him in strength. But like everyone else, she had proved herself to be weak and far inferior.

Aida was confused at his word and they only made her ask him,"Why?"

"Why?" He scoffed before answering for her, "because you are no longer even close to me in strength or anything. You're as weak as everyone I see here. You're an ant in my eyes; I can crush you if I want to."

Before she could even register his words in her mind, Grimmjow's concealed anger had overtaken him and he grabbed the woman by her head, smashing onto the nearest wall.

The other fraccions watched, appalled, as the smack had broken a part of the concrete wall. They watched in fright as he lifted her head in one hand before kicking her into the stomach so explosively she spat blood out on impact. He then simply threw her on the hard floor harshly and kicked her wounded body away which went rolling into another corner of the far cafeteria.

His fraccions were both frightened and shocked seeing their superior treat his favourite subordinate like she were nothing but a punching bag. They had never seen him even hit her in a serious manner the past years they've all spent together, but now he just kicked and trashed the woman like she had absolutely no value in his eyes. What had astonished them even more was how she did not even dare defend herself from his attacks or even winced in pain, knowing she felt it all given how forceful each attack was.

The angry espada seeing her not even budge from her lying place simply spat on the ground that had her blood adorning it before announcing, "That is what you get for protecting humans; that is what you get for becoming weak. I do not want any weak and pathetic arrancars as my fraccions, so you can find your own way from now on. You are not one of my fraccions anymore. Let's go."

Hearing his retreating footsteps Aida, though shaking uncontrollably, began to pick herself up from the ground but failed miserably and fell back, wincing slightly when her ribs came in contact with the ground. She did not know what hurt more; her body or her emotions. All she knew in the moment that everything was hurting.

Giving it another try, she hauled herself off the ground even though her body ached undeniably. The copper taste of blood in her mouth disgusted her, making her cough and spat it out; it only made her stomach experience more pain than it already was in. Leaning a side of her standing but crumbling body on the wall, she closed her eyes and prayed all that had happen were just a dream, that the man she gave everything to the past two decades of her life had not just beaten her, abandoned and humiliated her before his other fraccions.

But alas, all was real and for the second time in her life, she hated the reality.

In the moment, her line of thinking had become absolutely muddy. Her mind was incapable of forming coherent sentences after receiving the impact from her face getting smashed into the wall. Quite to her dismay, she has been smashed to the ground on and about around the time she was an adjucha but no funny sensation had clouded her mind and prevented it from thinking straight the way this beating did. It was uncommon. Everything about this was unfamiliar to her to the point it made her uncomfortable; all this was just a large leap from her comfort zone, and she loathed stepping out of it alone.

She continued leaning against the side of the tattered wall in an attempt to allow her healing abilities to kick in and to, most important of all, wrap her head around whatever that had happened just because she was trying to get out of her line to assist humans. Pathetic, he had called her the first time since they had met over decades ago. Weak. Pathetic.

Weak. Pathetic. That is all she was in his eyes from now on.

She could not bring herself to cry. She just could not. There were no tears; it was as if her gland had dried up and even if she willed to cry, she could not. She had no heart, but had it been there, it would have gave up on her from the emotional and physical pain she was experiencing in the moment. Why was she feeling this?

Her train of thoughts was once again interrupted by a childish voice call out,

"Hey, you okay there?"

Fluttering her eyes open almost tiredly, she saw two figures with distinctive height differences look at her. It was only upon blinking thrice she realised the two people to be Coyote Starrk and his fraccion, Lilynette. It was Lilynette who had surely asked her about her well-being.

Aida, despite her entire face aching in protest, gave the girl and her superior a small but fabricated smile with her false well-being before answering, "I'm fine, Lilynette." She wanted to be consoled in the moment, but no way could she bring herself to ask for comfort from the primera espada. He had already been too kind to her as it was. She could not ask for any more debts.

But the young arrancar was persistent. She could clearly see the devastating place the woman was. Her face was bruised and bashed, and she was bleeding from her mouth; she looked in no condition of taking any step or whatsoever. If her superior finds out what somebody had done to his fraccion, their life would be only seconds long after it. She asked another question this time,"Who did this to you? Surely Grimmjow would beat the shit out of-"

"It was Grimmjow, Lilynette. I will be fine, don't worry over some title-less mere numero," the woman had cut her off, bitter at her own words. She was nothing from now on. A mere numero. When the sexta espada stood with her, she was his right-hand with respect that she received from everyone given how sound-minded and intelligent she always put herself before everyone. But once the news of her removal from Grimmjow's ranks would spread across Las Noches, she knew she would have to fight for herself and maintenance of her very dignity.

After all, Grimmjow was no longer there to protect her. She had no one.

Starrk was observing the woman who attempted to act tough despite how much in despair she seemed to be inside out. She was in the same place as he was once. An aura of loneliness had the woman engulfed, and it just brought him back memories of the past where he had to spend his years alone, craving for company simply because no creature could bear being around him.

Signalling Lilynette to stay put, Starrk approached the wounded woman, wrapping one gloved hand around her shoulder whilst taking her hand in the other to use as support, he slowly made her walk towards a table she could sit on. He was obviously careful, taking baby steps so that his movement would no inflict any more pain on her.

When she had sat down, she diverted her attention to her thighs with her hands playing with the hakama of her dirty uniform. She was fidgeting with it, afraid to look at the primera espada in the eyes the way she once could. By being barred as a fraccion, she had dropped from her rank too. She was a lowly numero now, and the quicker she grew accustomed to it, the better.

"What happened, huh?" Lilynette had asked again as Aida sensed the girl standing right in front of her alongside Starrk, who she could feel staring down on her like she were some pitiful creature. Oh she already hated whatever she was receiving at the end of the sword, and it had only been mere minutes since Grimmjow had- she cannot say it out of sadness.

Thankfully, Aida's hair had become one way she could conceal her face from everyone. It was short and it always aided whenever she wanted to veil her face during sparring she's angry or when she feels too emotional after watching a movie in the human world.

Aida took a deep sigh and began shamefully,"He did not like the way I protected the humans from Yammy. He deemed me weak for it, and so he dropped me from being his fraccion anymore. I suppose I deserved it."

Lilynette scoffed and retorted, "Yeah, no shit. It was pretty low of you to protect the humans." The younger arrancar only received a glare from her superior for her blunt words.

The woman only let out a bitter laugh and raised her head to look at them and answered loudly, "I only wanted to do what seemed right to me in the moment. I couldn't care less for those puny creatures; I was attempting to avoid the collateral damaged that may have been induced with Yammy's careless slaughter." Her voice had cracked upon reaching the last words with her green eyes that had gone dull staring down. "I did what I thought best there. I was only following orders."

She felt a hand pressed against her back, making her almost stiff. When she felt it slid up and down in an attempt to comfort her, she relaxed against it and let it move against her back. Turning her head to the side, she found Starrk sitting next to her on the bench closely with his hand on her back. His blue-grey eyes were on her, a distinguished emotion of pity underlying in them; aimed at no one but her. His dark long wavy locks were hanging behind him as leaned inward whilst trying to make the woman feel better. She noticed his face held his similar disinterest expression like he was not here but here nonetheless. But again, for her this was the closest thing to comfort she would after what had happened, and it would be in her own interest to cherish it before it left.

"You know," Starrk started, "I did not see your decision as wrong there. Your attempt to avoid damage was certainly one of intelligence, but all of us know Grimmjow is a hot-head. As his fraccion and closest companion, you should have seen this coming." Starrk was right. Aida should have seen this coming, but her instincts had blinded her in the moment. She had completely forgotten how Grimmjow liked things, even in her case. He loathed weakness; he wanted to eradicate it off the surface of the world either by his hands or his soldiers. Aida, someone he seemingly looked out for, not only protected it but showed it on the field of battle.

She only nodded at what he said and gave him a weak smile. He was always truthful and kind to her ever since they were all recruited by Aizen. Though she came from the foot-soldiers of one of the most brutal espadas, she was always kind and friendly to all the arrancars no matter how rude they were. Harribel and Starrk were the only two espadas she bothered to keep up with, paying them visits and hanging in their domains whenever she had time on her watch. They were always kind enough to let her stay and converse with them given she was one of the few kinder arrancars in entire Hueco Mundo.

She in particular always loved visiting Starrk more because let's face it, Harribel's fraccions were bitches who never failed irritating Aida to the core even though she enjoyed speaking to Harribel herself. They were too rude to her, and just ruined each time she bothered staying in their abode as a guest. Starrk and Lilynette on the other hand never irritated or annoyed her. Rather they were pleased with her presence just as much as she was. Aida loved grabbing things from the human world to give to Lilynette and Starrk as gifts; Lilynette, though the subordinate to the strongest espada loved toys and Verron made sure to buy her any childish thing she would come across on Earth. Lilynette never distinctively showed her thankfulness to the female arrancar, but she knew particularly well the child loved it and never once did she hesitate spoiling her. As for Starrk, knowing his particular interest towards dark-pale fashion and sleep, she would buy him sleep masks each time Lilynette would rip the older one and faux coats that he just adored wearing whenever he was in his abode. He found them beautiful and the fashion taste of people from the world of living, outstanding.

So really, Aida's visits to human world to report day to day activity of hollows that he unleashed upon them consisted less of reporting and more of shopping she did for her two particular fellow arrancars.

After a long silence in which Starrk had long removed his hand from Aida's back, she straightened her tattered postured and gave the two a smile before asking a question that left a bitter taste in her own mouth, "So, what are you two doing sitting with a lowly numero like myself, hmm? Want something from Earth again?"

At the comment both arrancars rolled their eyes dramatically before Stark started to reply, "Don't be ridiculous, Aida. We came here to-"

Stark was halted when his eyes caught a looming figure in the shadows, their eyes on the numero sitting amongst like they were spying. That figure, upon being seen, decided to step out of the shadows and present themselves. When Aida heard Starrk stop, she noticed his eyes were on someone on the other side of the area. Upon looking to her left, she caught onto the teal eyes that were on her, making her announce only one word.

"Ulquiorra."

 


	6. Chapter 6

"ULQUIORRA."

The cuatro espada stepped out of the shadows, his hands dug deep into his hakama, holding his figure with seem inexpressive pride that he held as Sosuke's lapdog and one of the strongest espadas. Face stony as always, he was staring at the numero sitting amongst the other two arrancars that he cared not to acknowledge at all as typical of his behaviour.

Aida felt uncomfortable under his gaze more than she did when Gin stared at her, never knowing why he did so.

The espada broke the silence and ordered the woman, "Follow me, woman." and then disappeared by performing sonido, barely giving her time to even ask him where to. She got up from her position knowing her wounds had healed and looked at Starrk apologetically, who only understood and motioned her to leave. Waving them one last time, she began to use sonido and exit the cafeteria by the same door Ulquiorra seemingly left by.

In the long hall, she caught the glimpse of Ulquiorra who used sonido repeatedly to help the clumsy woman trail behind him without so losing her path. Like an obedient puppet, she continued to race after him hoping she doesn't lose track of each hall and door he went by whilst her mind was swarming with questions that only Ulquiorra held answers to.   
  
  
  
  
  


 ** _MEANWHILE IN WORLD OF LIVING_**...

"Dear me, dear me. Today was quite some day," Kisuke led out of exhaustion whilst fanning himself dramatically, repeating the events of today in his over and over again, hoping to make sense out of them. But it came to no avail.

He felt the eyes of all the soul reapers, quincy and humans on him, waiting for him to begin explaining things where Toshiro had left off about the hollows. Hitsugaya had covered everything about menos grande pretty well in simple words for even the simpletons to understand; the threat, the risks and possible destruction of soul society in itself. What the young captain had left off was a certain person everyone on the scene had witnessed.

They were all seated in Urahara's shop inside the living room where the chabudai was placed in the center. Around it sat Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki, Orihime Inoue, Uryu Ishida, Yasutora Sado, Toshiro Hitsugaya and Urahara himself whilst Yoruichi Shihion sat on top of the table in her feline form. In one corner of the larger room stood Ikkaku Madarame against the wall with a look of pure irritation plastered over his face; next to him sat Yumichika who was intently listening to what Toshiro had explained and now awaited Urahara to begin his explanation. Renji was leaning his head against the same wall whilst sitting right next to Ururu and Jinta who for the first time instead of fighting were actually all ears to the serious discussion taking place in the middle of the room. Ranjiku Matsumoto on the other hand was sitting right behind her captain with her legs crossed uncomfortably in the school uniform they were all compelled to wear. Tessai, who wasn't even listening to the conversation before, had now sat in the room and decided to listen to Kisuke speak about the one particular person he knew his entire life though from a distance.

"So, hat n clogs. Can you tell us about the woman already 'cause my guess is that everyone here is as impatient as I am," Ichigo stated as a matter of fact-ly. He knew everyone wanted to know about the mysterious woman both he and Yoruichi recognised on the spot, and the curiosity was eating all of them alive.

Urahara sighed, looking into Yoruichi's eyes for a moment to confirm things with her; upon getting the nod of approval, he diverted his attention to everyone in the room who looked at him intently, ready to hear about the mysterious woman. And with that, he began the story of Aida Verron.

"The woman some of you on the scene saw today was Aida Verron." Seeing nobody's face light up in recognition as per expectations, he continued. "She is part of the hidden history of Soul Society because of what had happened to her, or was allowed to happen by everyone.

"Aida was the Captain of Squad Eleven around the same time me and Yoruichi were captains of our respective squads except she held the position of Captain for centuries like Captain Kyoraku, Unohana, Ukitake and Head-Captain Yamamoto." At those words everyone in the room except the familiars went into clear shock with some audibly gasping at the fact that had shamelessly befallen upon all of them. Some of them had hard time coping with the idea that such a young woman had served as the captain of the most brutal squad for centuries whilst the soul reapers of soul society could not bring themselves to believe that a former captain who was a loyalist had sided with the enemy.

Ikkaku was the first to raise his voice against it, "You must be lying! First, our squad always had a Kenpachi for Captain's role. Second, there is no way a woman or traitor like her could-" But just as quickly he had began speaking, he was told to shut it by the piercing yellow eyes of the feline, making him sit back down grumpily but scoot closer to the table, clearly intrigued by the words of the man now.

Urahara had turned his face in Madarame's direction for a moment, cutting off his story just to tell him, "I clearly stated she was part of the hidden history, did I not? And Aida Verron wasn't just a woman. She was one of the strongest captains in the whole of soul society with her evolved zanpakuto that was once infamous legend Arthur's sword Excalibur."

A great amount of ' _EH_?!s' rolled from all over the room as another shock bomb had been dropped on each and every one of them. Even Hitsugaya could not hide his shock anymore as a loud gasp had escaped his lips mostly because he never knew anything of such about the former captain or anything at all. What had soul society done to her which did not even permit her to be part of its glorious history? Surely there was no mention of this woman in the books, all of which he had reach prior to being granted the title of Captaincy.

Urahara did not wish to dwell in each and every part of the woman's history, so he continually ignored their shock and began where he had left off before being so rudely interrupted by Ikkaku in the beginning. "Aida had served the Society as a loyalist for centuries like I had said. She was not only skilled in combat as a master tactician but was skilled in hakuda and shunpo as well, only behind Yoruichi though I cannot say anything about now since it's been a century. She happened to be one skilled in swordsman too though we rarely saw her use it in any battle at all." Urahara scratched his head for a moment trying to remember why the woman barely used her zanpakuto at all; after a few moments had passed, his mind clicked together and he led out a squeal of happiness before answering in all serious again. "She said she was always afraid of her zanpakuto's spirit since it had evolved from a valiant spirit of a horse to a two-headed hell hound."

Each piece of information was coming off shocking to them. She was an enigma in herself, but at the moment none of them knew if it were good thing that she was all that or not.

Kisuke, seeing none of them had anything to say except stare with astonishment, took a long deep breath and continued, "She was always awful at kidou from what I know and saw with my eyes. When Yamamoto had forced her to take kidou classes once, she nearly ended up killing her own self and setting the Soul Reaper Academy on fire." Upon hearing that, Kisuke noticed the grumpy Ikkaku smirk widely murmuring how likely that was of an eleventh squad's captain. "Her failure in kidou had hurt her pride and that is when she decided her squad had no need to perform it and called it cowardly and disgraceful. That is why, my friends, Eleventh Squad still deems kidou as disgraceful. Their former captain is the reason they're skilled in direct combat and swordsmanship only.

"Now back to the real story. Aida served the soul soc-" He was cut off by Ichigo who shouted at him for saying that a thousand times and commanded him to get down to the actual story. Urahara closed the dull fan he held in his hand with a ' _crrk_!' and stared into the eyes of each person intimidatingly after placing his elbows on the table, a solemn expression drawing over his shadowed features.

"Verron was the first soul reaper to become the victim of hollowfication, or you can say the first of many captains who transformed into hollows.

"It took place about a hundred and two years ago when Squad Five and Squad Eleven both were celebrating the defeat of a powerful group of menos grande together. Seeing their celebrations, the rest of the squads with an exception of one and six began to celebrate too. It was the nicest night all of us ever had until all things changed. The Captain of Squad Five was in the company of Aida for the longest until she took her short leave from the party. No one really cared then; everyone was too occupied in drinking and partying to notice how unwell the woman had felt and later retired." He took a deep breath and resumed again. "It was not until a few hours later into the night all of us heard the worst sound anyone had to hear. It sounded like a hollow's screech but with human femininity to it. All of us captains and lieutenant of both fifth and eleventh squad rushed to the scene, and it was there we had to see something neither one of us expected to put our eyes on.

"Aida Verron had become half a hollow when we had arrived. It was a horrifying sight. None of us saw it coming. None of us had imagined seeing one of the strongest of captains undergoing the process of hollowfication there. When she was becoming a hollow, she asked for our help because there was a part of her that remained despite the slow transition that was taking place." Urahara lowered his head almost in shame as he soon afterwards began to expose the betrayal of ten particular captains and two lieutenants in case of the woman. "We did not help her. I was still deep trying to study hollowfication and ways to reverse it. I did not know of any way to reverse it then. Rather, me and the rest of the captains simply sped up the process until she completely turned into a hollow.

"After she was done transitioning, all of us out of fear opened a pathway and threw her into the deserts of Hueco Mundo only after Captain of Ninth Squad had stabbed her from there. None of us could sit and watch her disintegrate; we all admired and respected her too much to just sit and watch her die, and so we simply closed up the garganta on her, hoping she had passed on.

"Once the news of her death had passed onto Captain Yamamoto, he refused to hold any meetings with us for a while. He was clearly disappointed, after all she was one of his best pupils and had to die so disgracefully. Thereon, her name was completely removed from the history and any textbook in soul society, making her a myth in the mouths of those who spoke of her. Her lieutenant, Kenpachi Kiganjo, was promoted to the position of Captain of the Eleventh Squad while the fifth seat Maki Ichinose became the lieutenant. No one spoke of her after that." He led out a sigh of relief, knowing he had finished telling the story of the woman that once meant a lot to everyone who was familiar to her in life.

An unsettling silence hung in the air even though he was done wrapping the life-story of Aida Verron up. It seemed as if all were too absorbed in their own thoughts regarding the woman to acknowledge the fact that story time was over.

A good few seconds passed in quietness until Ichigo broke it with a question, "Is possible that she.. she survived the stabbing?" His voice had seriousness and uncertainty laced in it. After all, aside Aizen here, they were dealing with another powerful entity.

Yoruichi was the one to answer his question this time. "Possible? I'm hundred perfect sure she survived it. That person we saw today was Aida Verron, nobody else." Even though it was hard for her to cope, but her former friend was very much alive and this time, she had sided with the enemy.

"I just don't know why a respectful captain like her would side with Aizen of all people," Toshiro spoke his thoughts aloud, rubbing his thumb against his chin as he attempted to decipher the woman's motives in his mind.

"It is likely Aida doesn't remember most of things. After becoming hollows, many of them lose all knowledge of their past and who they once were so it was surprising she even remembered us. Aside that, I doubt she knows it was Aizen who transformed her into a hollow. She probably still believes the soul society betrayed her, that is if she remembers."

The lieutenant of squad six who, throughout this time had stayed silent, decided to speak up and voice his opinion on the former captain, "Whether she was a captain or not, she is still on the side of the enemy. When the moment comes, we need to bring an end to her just like Aizen."

Orihime was the first person to jump to her defence as she looked between Urahara and Abarai before protesting in a timid voice, "No! There is no need for that. When the giant hollow tried to attack me the first time, she actually protected me, Chad and Tatsuki. I was afraid of her, but she did protect all of us until Kurosaki-kun came on the scene." She did not know, but she certainly had firm belief that the woman was innocent and simply on the wrong side of the border, that on the inside she was a good person. "I think we all should give her a chance before doing anything."

Ichigo could only agree with Inoue. "She is right. I think it's unfair to announce her sentence before she even gets a chance to explain herself. And besides, she didn't seem evil like the other two arrancars."

Everyone else in the room only looked at each other, not knowing what to do or say at all.  
  
  


**_BACK TO HUECO MUNDO_...**   
  
  


"Why did you bring me out here, miles and miles away from Las Noches?"

Arms folded over her average chest with one of her ample hips protruding to one side and a scowl decorating her face, Aida stared at the the cuatro espada studiously as attitude reeked off her directed at he, who stood a good three feet away from her, hands in his pockets and a regular monotonous expression clouding his pale face. He was staring intently at her, studying her body language and the amount of spiritual pressure that she was giving off, which was none at the moment.

Both stood in the barren desert of Hueco Mundo almost silently, distance apart and involved in a tight staring contest. It was the regular blackness of the night and luminosity of the moon that lit the place below. Neither one of them could detect presence of any intruding force around them except for one that came from numerous hollows down Menos Grande forest, but all that was none of their concern. 

Ulquiorra did not want to answering her question as always, so what he did instead was unsheathe his sword and run towards the woman with it raised. Surprised by his speed and attack, she grabbed his sword between her hands, carefully enough not to slice her own self before pushing it back to hit the espada in the stomach with its hilt which she successfully did so. In the nanoseconds Ulquiorra recovered from the defensive move, she had pulled her own zanpakuto out and placed it in front of herself in defense. He then attempted to stab her in the abdomen, but she easily blocked the attack with her own sword.

"Okay, totally odd but I need to ask," she breathed before dodging another stab to the chest coming from the man. "How did you prevent everyone from seeing me attack Yammy and whatever he said about me and Grimmjow? I saw you watching us. How-"

"I shunned it from my memory, now focus."

Even though that simply made no sense to her, she could only nod her head and allow herself to focus on his persistent attacks, "You got it, sir."

Both continued sparring for a good thirty minutes with Ulquiorra's moves being damage and attack whilst Aida's being defence only. She did not want to fight, and all at the same time she did not know why Ulquiorra was trying to have a childish sword fight with her. Even though her eyes were fixated on Ulquiorra and his blade, her mind was occupied in wondering about the innumerable reasons as to why he had brought her miles away for this particular fight. What seemed most likely to her was the idea that he wanted to see if this fight will raise her spiritual pressure or not. Well, if that were his intentions then he is in for a big disappointment.

After his sword struck hers one last time, pulled it back and kept it to his side and turned his attention to the woman who had not even broke a sweat amidst all the numerous attacks he did on her with minimum effort. Sighing, he ordered her in an almost expressionless voice,"Raise your spiritual pressure, woman."

"No."

"Would you rather I force you into raising it?"

"No."

"Then raise it. We are miles away from Hueco Mundo, and here not even Lord Aizen can detect your spiritual pressure if it rises."

Looking at him almost pleadingly, she reasoned with him even though she knew it would come to no avail, "Ulquiorra, I cannot. It's risky." Why could he not understand that she simply had hidden reasons behind her failure to raise her spiritual pressure? Was he that hell-bent on knowing about it?

"I said raise it, woman."

She took a deep breath, clearly irritated with his persistence, and decided to give him what he desired. Placing her sword on the sandy platform both stood on, she initially raised her spiritual pressure by a fraction of its true potential. Her eyes were staring into Ulquiorra's as a black translucent aura embraced her freely, shaking the ground beneath her as the air continually grew heavier and heavier with each passing moment.

Ulquiorra's only grew wide in shock as she raised her spiritual energy almost uniformly. She closed her eyes and put more concentration into raising it, shaking the entire area the duo stood in. The dark but pure energy was bursting off of her like she were a volcano, clearly threatening to burn any foreigner down, and that is what she did. As Ulquiorra, who was trying to keep his footing steady in midst of her spiritual power, took a careful look around her he realised that the energy that had initially attracted adjuchas and other hollows towards her had made all of them turn into dust in the wind.

Digging his heel into the sand, he could only watch in awe as the woman had grown her spiritual energy from nothing into something so magnificent even he admittedly did not expect out of a mere fraccion of her likes.

"Drop your spiritual pressure now." He ordered her, raising his voice by a minimum so that the woman could hear it. And quite to his fortune, she did and immediately dropped it, thankful to him for commanding her to do so.

When she had successfully dropped it to nothing once again, she respired happily and looked at the gawking  Ulquiorra who  wore the same stony face he always did. He neither looked impressed or disappointed; he looked...neutral. That was the best way she could describe his facial expression post release of her reitsu before him. Not that she expected him to fawn over it or be disappointed, of course. This is Ulquiorra she was talking about, not some ordinary arrancar or soul reaper. He was the cuatro espada under Aizen's command who held himself above others without noticeably presenting it.

"What else are you hiding from me, Verron?"

Her eyes turned dulled at his question with her arms suddenly losing their stiffness as she whispered almost to her self, "I have a whole world I'm hidding. Some of the things in it, even I do not know." It was true. She did not know her world. She did not know anything about her own self, just jumbled memories of people she recognised but was incapable of piecing together. Her life was a jigsaw she had lost and found so many pieces of, the found pieces not fitting together whilst the missing ones remain as they are.

Hearing no answer from him, she slowly sank to the ground whilst using her own sword as a support to assist her in sitting crossed-legged on the grainy land underneath her. She pierced the ground with Milajuaro, leaning her forehead against the icy blade of her zanpakuto which sent a shiver throughout her body. Her hands were still wrapped around its hilt as she slowly closed her eyes, trying to focus on the pain that Grimmjow had induced upon her merely hours ago. Quite to her misfortune, the wounds he mentally strained her with had not went away or subsided. They were there, still throbbing as powerfully each time her mind pondered upon them.

She wanted to stay still there and sleep against her sword with the desire to forget everything that had happened. Sleep was the almost perfect way to escape all that had taken place hours ago. Oh God, she hated it. She hated her mind. It kept reminding her, taunting her about Grimmjow. It continued to display images of him looking at her like she was nothing, like she meant nothing to him, like they had not spent every moment the past twenty years together.

Her mind was destroying her, and she desired an escape.

And Ulquiorra was the perfect escape.

She got up from her place and steadied her sword in front of her, looking at the man who stayed still in his place, almost surprised at her sudden actions. It looked as if she were ready to take all the stress in the world out of her; that she had been carrying the weight of the world and now wanted it off herself.

"You want to see what else I'm hiding, Ulquiorra? I'll show you what else I've been hiding from everyone only if you make sure you will not tell anyone, not even Lord Aizen."

He thought of it for a moment before answering smoothly, "Hmn."

 _'It must be his way of agreeing with my terms_ ,' thought nonchalantly. It was time to get rid of a burden and replace it with a distraction and a new memory. Grimmjow will no longer be the only person to have seen one of the many things she's been hiding from them all. No more.

"You may want to stand a few steps back," warned Aida because she knew how full of perilous impact her sword was on the area around her. But seeing Ulquiorra not even budge from his place made her shrug shoulders and step back herself.

She placed one leg ahead and the other behind centimeters apart. Positioning the sword horizontally with one hand, she grabbed the thick blade between her thumb and other fingers before running them over it smoothly and whispering, "Roar, Milajuaro."

With those words her spiritual energy suddenly spiked to the point that it was spouting off of her from above. The black aura did not affect the area around her this time, but it did have her in its folds once again. Her zanpakuto had changed its shape from a regular katana to that of a large black sword that was thin hilt onwards but grew thick by the tip that was slightly bent, giving it the shape of an oval's side. The hilt of her sword was pure alabaster with black supposed gems decorating it sequentially.

Aida's dark hair was all over her face, her breath ragged at the transition of her zanpakuto which she had last exposed decades ago. She pointed the tip of her sword to the right shoulder of Ulquiorra and shouting, "Roar, Milajuaro." sending a large black bolt of energy behind him, striking the enormous elephant-shaped adjucha in the chest. The bolt sank into his body,  spreading the sable ink over its entire body before it exploding into millions of pieces, splattering the blood of it all over Aida and Ulquiorra alike.

The cuatro espada's eyes only widened in shock with his pupils constricting at what had happened to the intruding adjucha that intended to attack both of them. He had never seen such a brutal form of elimination being taken place as far as he could remember. It was lethal and no person could possibly escape it after being struck by the bolt. He would never admit it to her, but he was very impressed at what she had shone him given her being a mere numero now.

In the moment, both arrancars could not care less about the blood stains all over their uniforms; both simply wanted more. Aida felt thirsty for more blood, whilst Ulquiorra only wanted to see more of all this.

"Is this your shikhai?"

She nodded before replying more clearly, "After Lord Aizen recruited me and Grimmjow in his ranks, he gave me a much more unique sword than all of you. He knew I was a former captain of squad eleven, and so my zanpakuto not only has its shikhai and bankai forms but grants me a resurrection form as well. This was its shikhai form, and in person I can only transform it into that. Lord Aizen does not know I've achieved bankai and shikhai with it. In battlefield, I can transform the sword into bankai or do resurrection but it comes at a price."

Ulquiorra only continued staring at her, motioning her to continue with his eyes if that is even possible by any means.

"When I release my bankai or resurrection form, my spiritual pressure loses control and I'm simply not the only one controlling my body; my zanpakuto's spirit is. My zanpakuto's spirit is a blood-thirsty one; it does not care for any damage it may cause to lives or the area. I cannot control it, and so I only stick to its shikhai form. I cannot risk lives around me; I was taught better by someone long ago," She explained to him, her voice turning to an audible whisper upon the last sentence as her mind was flooded with memories from a past that let go of her before she could.

Only after a seconds he spent grasping her very answer, he stated, "Grimmjow is an imbecile."

Though the sound of his name coming from Ulquiorra's lips hurt her, she still could not help but raise her eyebrow at him almost flummoxed at his statement before questioning him, "What made you say that?"

He took slow strides towards her as a short silence engulfed the whole place, the breeze of Hueco Mundo being the only sound that dominated the area. Aida's eyes were fixated on the ashen man that grew closer to her with every breath she drew till she realised he only halted inches away from her. Her green eyes went from his wholly slender figure to that of his teal-shade orbs that were staring into hers with so much intensity she thought she would fall unconscious on the spot.

Taking his hand out of his pocket, he slowly brought his hand to the woman's face and brushed her short and messy hair out of her face before tucking it behind her ear, unveiling her near flushed face to himself. "Because he removed you from his ranks knowing you're the only fraccion in his ranks with a sound mind and strength." Her flushed had confused him, so he only pressed the back of his pale cold hand against her cheek not only finding it hot but incredibly soft too. "Why is it that your face is so hot, woman?"

' _Oh God, there we go with her adolescent-like attitude again_.'

Ignoring Milajuaro's remark, she suddenly averted her gaze downwards, not wanting to answer his question and embarrass herself before the fourth strongest arrancar in whole of Las Noches.

And thankfully, their moment was cut off just as that when both of them heard Aizen's voice call out from every part of the area both stood at, "Ulquiorra and Aida, you are requested to immediately come to my throneroom." The two looked at each other for a moment, letting their eyes talk for them, before using sonido and rushing to Lord Aizen's throneroom with minds speculating why their Lord wanted them in his presence.

 


	7. Chapter 7

"YOU CALLED FOR US, LORD AIZEN?"

The two walked into the massive hushed room, the only sound being their footsteps that echoed throughout it. The silence in the room was not only unimaginably heavy but uncomfortable to Aida, who had her hands folded over her exposed chest whilst Ulquiorra had his usual posture striking; relaxed shoulders and hands in the pockets. The room was brightly lit as if someone had the energy to turn on each and every bulb in the entire room; it had, nonetheless, nearly blinded Aida again since she and cuatro took a dark hall to make way to the throneroom.

After the odd but entertaining session of sparring with Ulquiorra was over, both did not bother exchanging words. Aida had no other topic to discuss with him, and even if she attempted small talk with the arrancar, he would either ignore her or answer her so bluntly it would make her feel childish and stupid. Ulquiorra, on the other hand, simply did not wish to talk; he had other intentions for her ever since she exposed some of her powers to him.

Quite to the woman's bemusement, she could not swat the giddy feeling in her stomach ever since Ulquiorra had come close to her and made physically contact with her. It felt like she was on cloud nine, or what the humans in the movies said whenever they felt all mushy and happy. The past years working alongside Ulquiorra doing Aizen's bidding even though Grimmjow was displeased with it, she never really found the slender man appealing or felt this peculiar feeling towards him.  She was always busy making notes for Aizen and in a rush to return to Grimmjow and spend time with him. And now that he no longer was there for her to run after, maybe she finally saw Ulquiorra.

' _Or you're simply using Ulquiorra as a distraction_ ,' Milajuaro piped in.

Shut up.

' _Make me_.'

"Welcome back, Ulquiorra and Aida. Where were the two of you together?" The man sitting on the throne questioned, tilting his head at the two arrancars who stood below him. Aida could actually detect the amusement and suggestion in his voice. It only made her turn into red beet internally.

Thankfully, Ulquiorra had cover for their sparring with a well plausible lie. "I took her with me to take care of some arrancars that were acting out of their line." She mentally thanked the espada who hid things from Aizen not once but twice for her, and she could feel her stomach do a flip at the idea that he was protecting her.

Lord Aizen seemed disinterested but asked nonetheless, "And what happened?" To that the arrancar nodded and replied, "The matter has been taken care, Lord Aizen. Do not fret over it."

He seemed very pleased with the answer, "Good job, Ulquiorra; you too, Aida. I know I can rely on both of you out of all." He paused for a moment which gave them both to bow respectfully and exchanging a thanks sent in his direction. He smiled momentarily and turned to Aida who held a facial expression not too different from that of Ulquiorra. "Aida, is it true Grimmjow dropped you out of his ranks for what you did today?"

She flinched on the inside at his words, not wanting to be reminded of what the person she would die for had done so ruthlessly. Turning her gaze down, she nodded whilst trying her best to conceal her emotions that had flooded her once her mind replayed the beating she took and his words he spat in her direction. Ulquiorra clearly detected the discomfort the woman had began to experience at Aizen's word, but said nothing.

"Hmm, knowing your potential I cannot allow you become a mere numero amongst our ranks. You can be a great asset to one of my espadas here aside Grimmjow." Oh, no. Where is he getting at?

Turning to Ulquiorra, he asked. "Ulquiorra, how would you feel about taking Aida as your fraccion? I think you two would be the most adequate of espada and fraccion." Was the Sosuke Aizen trying to play match-maker, because if he was then it was awful according to Aida. There is no possible way she could fathom working under the stony Ulquiorra, and besides she doubted Ulquiorra wanting to take her as his subordinate since he was the lone ranger of this stor-

"Whatever pleases you, Lord Aizen."

Oh great. Just great. I went from having a superior that suffered from anger management issues to one that suffering from lack of emotions. Why couldn't she simply work under no one? She was arrancar number nineteen without displaying her strength in its peak. She was certain she could handle herself and work under Aizen and do journalism for him without needing a second superior over her head.

In that moment, she could not help but loathe Ulquiorra despite of the fuzzy feelings that had clouded her line of thinking minutes earlier. She narrowed her eyes at him in attempt to catch his attention and send an ultimate death glare at him, but it went unnoticed by the cuatro espada whose attention was on Aizen.

"Well, then. Ulquiorra, you have your first fraccion. Aida, your second superior. I hope you both-"

Aizen was cut off by the sizzling noise of a garganta opening right behind the two. When the cuatro espada and his fraccion turn one-eighty degrees, they watched Tosen and a Grimmjow with tattered clothing and grazes over his exposed upper figure walk out of it. Aida's eyes went wide at Grimmjow's state, mind wondering whatever the hell he had gotten himself into now. She wanted to run towards him and take a better look at his condition, but all at the same time she knew Ulquiorra would be too displeased with that and last thing she wanted to do was make him regret taking her as his fraccion under the command of Aizen.

She felt Ulquiorra grab onto her arm tersely and pull her to the side as both stepped away from the gaze of Sosuke, letting him have all the attention over Tosen and Grimmjow. When both had come to a halt, Aida felt her eyes land on Grimmjow and his battered figure in worry. She took a careful survey of his body and realised he did not have any life-threatening wounds or whatsoever, making her thank the heavens that hot-head had not harmed himself seriously with an exception of a massive thick gash that covered stretched from his lower part all the way to the left shoulder of his; she was certain it would not go away. His hands were dug in his pockets except his posture had more attitude spouting off of it in contrast to Ulquiorra's as a scowl was decorating his face.

He did not bother sparing her a single glance as he stared up at Aizen whose lips had formed into a thin line in displeasure aimed at the sexta espada,"Welcome back, Grimmjow."

"Well? I'm sure you have something to say, Grimmjow?" Tosen piped in, his voice hopeful of getting something out of the sexta espada. Aida knew of the bad blood between Tosen and Grimmjow for a while now as she recalled clearly of the numerous times the former Captain of Gotei 13 disapproving of Grimmjow's ways of doing anything at all. Grimmjow was a careless brash man whilst Tosen was a man of justice that did everything in accord to reason.

The woman almost deadpanned when she heard Grimmjow's nonchalant reply,"Not really." Thought such a reply was something she certainly expected from him after serving under him for twenty years. However, the reply had only made Kaname angry and take threatening steps at him until he was interrupted by Aizen's voice.

"It's alright, Tosen. I'm not angry at all. Grimmjow's actions on this occasion are an expression of his uncontrollable loyalty."

'Or his uncontrollable anger management issues for which he should be immediately sent to a psychiatric ward.'

Milajuaro! That is rude.

She could hear the pout in her zanpakuto's spirit's voice,'What? I didn't say anything wrong.'

She shook her head disappointingly and turned her attention back to the scene where Aizen was casting a glance of suspicion at the espada who still seemed as nonchalant about the entire ordeal as before. If Aizen was outright expressing his uncertainty in your case, then you know you're in deep shit or that's what the humans said according to her. She was worried for Grimmjow. She had forgotten all the humiliation he had made her go through before-

Wait. Where were Grimmjow's fraccions?

He had clearly returned from Earth with Tosen. He looked like he had fought, possibly with Ichigo and the clan after Ulquiorra had outsmarted him hours ago when she, Yammy and the cuatro espada were reporting about Kurosaki from their visit to Earth. So, if he had gone to Earth then he must have taken his fraccions with himself. Why weren't they here? Is it possible they were killed on Earth?

If that were the case and she was right about it, then Grimmjow was in deep trouble. She could not care less about the fraccions that never treated her as their equal despite of being ranked under Grimmjow altogether. She was worried about the possible punishment that awaited him for getting his fraccions killed over some soul reaper, decreasing the number of potentional arrancars in the ranks of Aizen's army.

Her line of thinking came to a halt when her eye caught Tosen grabbing Grimmjow by the collar of his jacket, causing his eyes to grow wide and question just what the former captain was doing. His impulsive movement had worried her even more.

"Lord Aizen, please grant me the permission to execute him!"

"N-" Before Aida could even protest against the rash request of Kaname, she felt a cold hand being placed on her mouth and the back of her body being pressed against someone. Upon squinting her eyes to the hand on her mouth she found it to be belonging to none other than Ulquiorra. How dare he? She began to resist but found both of her hands being taken in his and cuffed behind her firmly. It still did not stop her from squirming in her grip to release herself and jump to Grimmjow's defence.

Even as she squirmed, her eyes were on Grimmjow who had swatted Tosen's hand away and accused him of all this being personal and just how much distaste he simply carried for the sexta espada. He then went on to taunt him, asking him if that was any way for a director-general to act at all. Tosen only replied that whoever disturbed the harmony should be punished, making Aida scoff against Ulquiorra's hand still pressed against her mouth.

Kaname's answer had only made Grimmjow huff out a loud laugh and reply, "You're so good at hoisting the banner for a cause!"

"Indeed. It is a cause. Something your actions have none of. Justice without a cause is no more than bloodshed."

A state of panic washed over Aida when she noticed Tosen reach for his sword. The rest was a mere blur for her. One moment Grimmjow was standing all fine and the next, his left arm had not only been amputated by Kaname but burned into absolute nothingness.

Her arms felt numb when she heard Grimmjow led out a cry of pain and agony, almost breaking apart upon seeing the blood spluttering out of Grimmjow's new wound and him screaming 'Damn it' repeatedly as his figure crouched down for a good few moments. She could not stand and watch him in pain; it felt like someone was tearing her open and attempting to wound her where it hurt the moment. So what she did was raise her spiritual pressure by a fraction and pry Ulquiorra's arms off of her, turning towards the stoic-faced espada with fire burning brightly in her eyes.

"Don't you ever, I mean EVER touch me like that again," and with that she ran towards the other espada who was wounded and had attempted to attack Tosen but was halted by Aizen's voice full of warning. She stopped mid-step, looking above at the man who continued.

"If you attack Tosen right here, I might not be able to forgive you." His eyes held a threat which only made Grimmjow grind his teeth and sheath his sword, anger clearly radiating off of him. Aida went over to Grimmjow and wrapped the wounded man's arm around her shoulder which had surprised him but said nothing, taking half of his weight over herself before slowly limping out of Aizen, Tosen and Ulquiorra's sight.

"Why are yo-"

"Shut up for once, Grimmjow."

When they entered their own room, she slowly placed Grimmjow on the bed careful enough not to hurt him seeing upon a closer look that he had wounds other than the amputated arm and the large gash on his chest. She a motioned a finger in his face and said, "You're staying right here. I'm getting bandages and a bucket of water with a towel. Don't you dare move." Before he could even say anything, she ran out of the room towards the infirmary that Harribel and her goons controlled to take care of any wounded espada.

Aida, being so worked up regarding Grimmjow's state, had forgotten she could actually use sonido to visit the infirmary and instead ran towards it with the speed of light. Upon visiting it, she rushed towards the blonde espada and begged to give her the required things, not being able to have a conversation with one of her favourite espadas. Noticing her distress, Harribel asked her no more questions and quickly handed her over bandages, ointments and a bucket with a towel. Saying her thanks in a rush, she ran out of the room holding the bucket to one side and the bandages close to her chest as she raced towards the room she and Grimmjow shared.

Halting before the room whilst panting she stepped inside the room and stepped inside before kicking the door close so that nobody would interfere with what she ought to do with Grimmjow next.

She placed everything by the edge of the bed, letting a deep sigh escape her lips. Her eyes went over to the sullen Grimmjow who was staring at her in surprise though it did not meet his eyes. He was clearly sad and depressed even. But Aida had no time to cheer him, she had to clean his wounds. Her eyes went over to his arm and found it to be bleeding profusely with the droplets of blood falling on the ground, sinking into it.

With another sigh, she picked the small dry towel and dunked it into the bucket of water before wringing into it and sitting next to Grimmjow so close that both their legs were brushing against each other. She took the damp towel and pressed it against his open wound, making him yelp in pain but do nothing else. His gaze was on his lap whilst Aida's was on his wound which she cleaned carefully enough not to hurt him anymore.

"Why are you helping me?"

Paused. She looked up at him with a quirked eyebrow. He continued staring at his lap, not wanting to meet eyes with the woman. "What do you mean? I will always help you. I've made a promise to y-"

His eyes shot up at the woman almost angrily as he raised his voice at her,"Why are you helping after what I did to you, humiliated you? Huh? To pity me?! Is this your way of getting revenge on me for what I did-"

She took a finger and pressed it against his soft lips, silencing him immediately as his electric eyes grew wide at the gesture. She smiled at him gently before replying, "I'm never going to pity you, Grimmjow nor is this my revenge. I care for you, idiot. More than anything. I just don't understand one thing." Her gaze fell down once she felt her eyes brim with tears that possibly dared to fall down.

"What?"

She looked up at him with the same teary eyes, shocking wearing on him good since he rarely watched the woman cry. Her lip quivered as she replied, "Why do you always try to rebel? Today, had Aizen not been merciful on you, I would have lost you, Grimmjow." Those tears that once dwelled in her eyes had now began falling down her cheeks as she stared into his eyes. "I cannot lose you, Grimmjow. I cannot even fathom a life without you whether you hate me or accept me. I fucking can't!" He watched her small hands form into fists as she continued ranting,"Fucking understand, I care for you! Call me weak for this, but I fucking care for you. I don't care. Please, stop being this reckless."

A short period of silence fell over the two in which Aida wiped her tears away and got over her emotional breakdown. It was useless. Grimmjow was the epitome of destruction. He would not stop until he drops dead on the ground, and that day is one Aida will forever dread.

She grabbed the towel again and slowly began cleaning the wound on his arm in utmost quietness; once she was done so, she grabbed the bandages and wrapped them heavily around it carefully, hoping the wound wouldn't bleed anymore. She dunked the bloodied towel into the water again, wringing the blood off of it before dropping off the bed and getting on her knees. She crawled over to Grimmjow, motioning him to open his legs so that she could comfortably be between them on her knees and clean the large gash on his upper figure.

After opening his legs wide and straightening his back she reached and carefully placed the damp towel against the beginning of the wound causing him to stiffen. She took her free hand and grabbed onto Grimmjow's hand, placing her thumb over the top of it and rubbing soothing circles over it, relaxing him ultimately. With that, she continued cleaning the large gash whilst avoiding his gaze through it all.

Once she was done with the large wound, she left his hand and raised her posture higher so that she could clean the graze that had fallen on his face. Placing one hand holding his jaw, she began to dab the graze slow enough not to hurt him or whatsoever again. She intentionally avoided his gaze even though his eyes were pleading her to look at him. Her hand left his jaw once she was done and just when she was going to pull away the other one, the fallen espada had grabbed onto it firmly.

"Look at me, Aida."

And there, she looked at him in the eyes. She positioned her head right in front of his, so close she could feel his breathe fan her face. The intensity his electric blue eyes held made her almost faint right there between his legs.

She has been close to him like this numerous times in the past as adjuchas and vasta lordes, but this was so much different. She was aching all over from what he did and she was begging for comfort. Her spar with Ulquiorra had not healed it; it was a mere distraction that backfired because even then she could not refrain herself from thinking about him. She wanted him to make her feel happy, to forget everything that had happened, to feel complete. She wanted him. No, she needed him. It was like he was the air she needed to live on. She could not breathe without him.

Despite of being so close, she never noticed many of his features the way she did now. Her eyes went from his perfectly small but pointy nose to his eyes that were adorned with dark turquoise markings resembling that of permanent eyeliner then to his eyebrows that were less in amount but perfectly complemented his beautiful but rugged facial features. Her eyes went over to the strands of hair that were generously sticking out as he always gelled them as such with the hair gel she brought for him upon every visit to Earth. After they were done venturing his upper face, they fell on his baby pink lips, wondering how they would feel if she were to put hers on them.

And that was her awakening of a new but familiar feeling.

Her eyes became half-lidded as she slowly inches her face even closer to his until she finally placed her lips against his, almost too gently.

For a good moment or so she felt no reciprocating movement from his side even though she had moved them against his slowly enough to adjust to this new move she had performed on him. When she thought he was too much in shock to respond, she pulled away not disappointed at all. She knew Grimmjow had not kissed anyone or been intimate with as far as she knew which came off quite a surprise for her knowing how much of a handsome man he was. Perhaps he simply was not intrigued with the initial thought of intimacy and preferred the roar and rage of destruction and battle instead.

Just when she was going to lean away from his face to place the towel away and go onto the rest of the business, she felt him tug onto her hand which he still had in his grasp, pulling her close enough for him to lean for and press a powerful but hungry kiss against her lips. His move had certainly astounded her to gasp, giving him an easy access to her mouth as he slipped his tongue into it.

Once Aida had recovered, she returned the hunger with just as much power as him. She dropped the towel from her hand and pried her hand from his grasp before using both of her hands to grab onto Grimmjow's face. Tilting her head, she only deepened the kiss as his tongue continued quarrelling with hers in wake of dominance only to find union that both shared.

The two kissed like they required no air to breathe. She felt Grimmjow's hand on her waist only to pull her closer to him. When he had pressed her body against his successfully, he closed his legs and made her sit on his lap as both continued onto the battle of the lips. Both had their eyes closed as they desirably savoured the moments of passion and hunger that they were sharing so ferociously.

This one single kiss had years of hunger and passion put into it. Neither one of them had experienced intimacy ever since they had transformed into humans nor did the lack of it bother either unlike their fellow arrancars who were involved in heartless hungry relationships, all about performing acts of lust since that is what they were after all; heartless and only there for the lust. But this felt so much different than how it looked with everyone else, at least to Aida it did. She felt like her kiss had ignited her long concealed feelings for her partner of twenty years. When she felt him kiss her, her body went on fireworks that she never thought simply were there. The feeling was so new, so beautiful and so familiar at the same time. She loved it.

The two pulled away, breathing heavily after a long while of the hungry but sensual kiss they shared. Aida still held his face in her hands whilst Grimmjow's hand was still pressed against her back, sending shivers down her spine over and over again. Both were staring down to the ground before he panted,"I'm sorry." His apology only caused her to look up, giving him the opportunity to press a small kiss on her lips again with no intention for desiring her to answer it back. He simply wanted to feel those tender pair of lips against his over and over again. They were so soft, he could not get enough of them after the first time.

"It's okay, Grimmjow. I forgive you. Now, can I put the ointment on the wound on your chest? It won't heal it, of course, but the burning will subside with it," She requested softly, her eyes settled on his beautiful blue ones she will never have enough of. They were like the endless pit of the deepest ocean's trench; so beautiful yet so mysterious with secrets that she would not discover without drowning in them.

He grumbled under his breath, knowing their make-out session had come to a halt but suddenly he was overcome with another peculiar feeling when he felt Aida's press her hand against his abdomen, motioning him to lay down. He tilted his head in confusion for a moment but decided to kick off his shoes and lay down on their bed, scooting to the other side a little so that Aida could sit next to him. She smiled almost in endearment at how quickly he actually listened to her.

Grabbing the bottle ointment, she cracked it open before spilling a gentle amount of it in her palm, rubbing it together with both hands. She began with his upper chest massaging him slowly and benignly, trying not to hurt the man as he himself was too focused on the woman who worked under him for two decades but never found attractive in an intimate manner until now. He was practically gawking her as his eyes went from her shoulder-length dark chocolate hair to her petite but curvy short figure that she carried with pride; her round posterior complemented her curvy hips and average-sized breasts that he suddenly desired to play with. His eyes went to ogling her fair skin that never tanned even after training under the sun of Las Noches with her for days. It was milky pure and seemed so awfully soft, he almost wanted to corrupt it with his hands and mouth. Her ruby red lips that never lost their colour even after the roughest battle where she fell to have bled were what he wanted to run his own over and over again; he loved them. The first taste had made him a hopeless addict. Her emerald shade eyes with wisps of fire circling the pupil, her crooked but small nose, those sharp dark eyebrows and the oval facial structure with a perfectly shaped jawline were just bonuses that were added onto her physical attributes that made her the arousing woman he saw her as now.

His eyes suddenly left her body and landed on his abs which had the anti-burning lubricant being poured over by Aida; the cold liquid made him shiver, but he recovered as quickly when he felt the woman's warm hands pressing against his chest before slithering up and down on his six-pack, applying the ointment as carefully as she did on his chest. The movement of her slender fingers dancing over his abdomen had only made his mind linger to thoughts that made him feel hot suddenly. He felt the strong pulsing travel from rest of his body down to lower area, and he knew that somehow Aida would notice it.

He never thought he would want to grow intimate with her this terribly. Both had become vasta lordes years ago, shared bed and fooled around via physical attachment, but never did he fathom wanting to mate with her. He always imagined her as a subordinate and comrade whom he shared more things with than any of his former fraccions. Both knew each other's strengths and weakness, and they had come to respect each other based off of them. She was the only person he imagined to be closed to the term 'friend' or someone he could simply rely on even though he preferred doing all things solo. He had seen the ups and downs throughout the decades that were affiliated with her, and she had observed his even though they were rare in number. She was the only person that had never had experience with his wrong side since she was the most obedient hollow he had ever encountered; she always did what he told her, never protesting or complaining. Even when he wanted to get angry at her, he simply couldn't since she never did anything to cross him until today. Both knew each other from the present, never bringing up the past, and came close based off of it.

Right there and then, he simply wanted to fuck her senseless. He wanted to corrupt her. Her wanted to make her his. He wanted to make her scream his name, and merely the thought of her moaning and screaming name gave him an erection. He lost all composure to the perverse things he was thinking, the positions he would mate with her in. He wanted her right there.

When he felt her hands stop working on his body, he decided it was the perfect time for him to act on his emotions. He grabbed onto her upper arm and pulled her surprised form closer to him before he raised himself and planted an aggressive kiss against her lips.

Aida was in a good state of shock before the similar lust that had overtaken Grimmjow had infected her and she kissed him back with equal force. She placed a hand on his chest, indicating for him to lie to down which he did without so breaking the kiss as she kicked off her own shoes before spreading her legs and settling them on each side of his body, placing herself right on top of his hard erection unintentionally. Placing both of her hands on each side of his face, she continued battling her lips against his as the heat between her legs continued to grow with each time Grimmjow sliding his hand up and down her back. She wanted him. They were hungry for each other, and there was only one way to tame the hunger their inner beasts felt.

Knowing she had the upper hand, she smirked against his starving lips before slowly grinding her hips against his erection, rubbing her own core against his which resulted in a groan that came out of his throat. Almost pleased with his response, she did it again. And again. Their lips did not leave each other, but her persistent teasing had only made the panther growl and grab onto her hip firmly before flipping them where she became the vulnerable one and he, the superior.

His lips momentarily left hers as he leaned his forehead against hers, both attempting to grab as much oxygen as possible before Aida snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him into another prolonging kiss, making him groan because he himself could not simply get enough of her lips. They were as addictive as a bloody fight; he loved their taste equally. Both of them felt like animals, acting on their primal instincts like they were bound by no morals or whatsoever.

"Fuck..woman," He whispered against her lips with small pauses as he continued to steal kisses from her. She loved it. She loved this. She wanted more. Grimmjow had turned her into a beast and ignited all familiar but new at the same time feelings in her, and she will not rest until she makes him pay for making her so unbelievably vulnerable.

A pout appeared on Aida's lips when Grimmjow abandoned hers but was replaced with a grin of satisfaction when he placed them on her neck. It was not hard for the wild cat to find her sensitive spot, and once he did he nibbled on it like a cat one, making the woman moan quietly. The sound of her moaning because of him had only made him harder down there, motivating him to savour the woman even more. He continued running his tongue and teeth over her soft spot over and over again until he decided to move even lower.

He lifted his head from her body for a moment, stealing a hungry kiss from her lips whilst his fingers played with her jacket, zipping it open. Knowing how he practically lacked a whole arm, she removed her hands from his neck and removing her shirt off her body by zipping it off from the back, exposing her bare upper body to the man whose pupils only dilated at the near-heavenly sight before him.

And there on, one by one both removed each piece of fabric that veiled their bodies from the other, lying in all their naked glory before each other. It was there that both became one out of passion and the concealed hunger that resided within themselves, the only sounds escaping from their swollen lips being of pleasure and their own names, uttered and screamed out of the thrill that both bestowed upon each other. They became the other's first and swore on the same night of love and sex that they would become the other's last; it was not a promise, but a vow of commitment in life and in death.

This was supposed to be meaningless sex that occurred on instinct and the ravaging hunger within them; one seeking comfort and the other desiring a distraction, but it became so much more than that as the night continued on. Both made love even when they knew not whatever it was. It was union of two damned souls, nothing less. Whatever ought to come out of this peculiar but meaningful night, it was to be dealt with later on; to them, all that matter in the moment was the other resting in their arms, fingers entwined in comfort, so peacefully as if the drums of war had not began beating.

 


	8. Chapter 8

" **HEY, WOMAN. WAKE UP.** "  
  
  


A loud groan escaped her mouth as she slammed the pillow against her ears in an attempt to shun all the noise, wherever it was coming from. She did not care, she required her beauty sleep after the eventful night.

"Woman, if you do not wake up- TFHWA!" The annoying voice was shut off when Aida felt her hand collide with the mouth of the person who persistently tried to wake her up. That should be enough to shut it up, she thought triumphantly with a smile before snuggling into the warm comforts of the glorious bed. She heard the sound of abhorrent cursing and scuffling of feet before it faded away, making her realise her slap to the face of the person worked.

And so for a good while, she heard no sound disturbing her. It was all silent around her, helping her catch some good z's; all was good and tranquil, instilling a period of peace in her surrounding until, of course, it was interrupted with a loud splash and the next moment she knew she was fucking wet from head to toe.

A loud screech resembling that of crow's when they get electrocuted escaped her mouth as she shot up standing on the bed; wet, naked and shivering as she looked around the room to find the monster who made her suffer until she found him: Grimmjow. He had the same bucket from last night swung over his shoulder as he looked at the frightened but livid woman with a victorious smile plastered over his sexy features, his blue eyes glinting with evil. Seeing the glare in her eyes, her threw his head back and led out a loud laugh before stating shamelessly, "You know you look really sexy when you're angry and naked. We should try angry sex sometimes."

An anger mark appeared on the side of her forehead as her eye began twitching in fury, she locked eyes with the grinning espada before forcing a smile on her face whilst gritting her teeth, "Grimmjow Jaegarquez, you are aware of the weight your crime carries?" Instead of fright that should have appeared on his face, he grinned even wider and nodded. "Oh yes, like having your t-"

Before he could even complete his sentence Aida led out a battle cry, and jumped off the bed, pouncing on the man whose pupils constricted at the naked woman who jumped on him, throwing him against the ground with a thud strong enough to shake the grounds of entire Hueco Mundo.

Sitting on top of his laying and groaning figure, she began to hit him playfully with her curled fists all over his half-covered body which made him protest like a child. "Ow, woman. Stop- I said stop. WOMAN, NO. Oh my, ow! Ow! No, no don't you dare touch my-" And they went on, fussing like a pair of two children without any worries. Grimmjow, out of fright, grabbed both of her hands in one grip and rolled them over, pinning her under him as an evil grin plastered over his at the sight of a defenseless nude Aida that laid underneath him with a scowl on her face though her eyes expressed a different mood.

Once the playful mood had died down, Aida continued looking into his eyes as her scowl turned into an almost pleasant smile as she greeted, "Good morning, Grimmjow." Of course, Grimmjow's grin turned tad softer but his voice did not lose its gruffness, "Mornin', woman." He then leaned down to lock lips with the woman, who kissed him back the moment his pair met her's in passion as she took her legs and wrapped them around his taut waist, closing her eyes and enjoying the moment they shared.   
  
  


Last night had changed so much for them. Aida had panicked after mating with him, wondering whatever would happen to their alliance or in simpler words, their friendship, tomorrow on but given Grimmjow's behavior in the instance, they were as much friends as they were years before, just more intimate. She did not mind the new change; she could get used to it.   
  
  


After a heated lip-locking session on the cold concrete floor, Aida pushed Grimmjow away and picked her clothes that laid sprawled all over the floor and rushed into the bathroom, locking the door behind the man who seemed eager to fuck her again. She sighed and slowly walked towards the mirror and looked at herself in it, eyeing her figure from head to toe as her eyes particularly went to the hollow hole that was displayed on her upper thigh. She hated where it was placed; she did not want it there, but it was there. It made her feel insecure like some feeble human. What made her feel worse was the former set of finger bones that were embedded to her new form, making her incapable of wearing anything to even cover it.

She envied the other arrancars and where their bone fragments were as well as their hollow hole. Harribel looked fierce with her's that decorated her lower part of her face whilst Grimmjow looked pretty great with his own jawbone that adorned his face; same could be said for other espadas and ordinary arrancars. She was the only unfortunate hollow in whole of Hueco Mundo with such misplaced bone and hole.

Taking a sigh, she walked over to the showers and took a quick one before exiting the bathroom after dressing herself up for her first day as Ulquiorra's fraccion. She was not excited at all to be ruefully true. Ulquiorra was Aizen's pet, and she knew that her daily duties were more revolved around Aizen than before. Her recruitment amongst Ulquiorra's non-existent fraccions only made her wonder whatever Aizen's intentions were behind it all. Was it some sort of way to keep the woman closer to himself for intel? Or was it that he not trusted her?

Her loyalty to Aizen was a facade for greater purposes. When Aizen first took her in alongside Grimmjow amongst his ranks, she did not recognise him at all, but as time passed and her zanpakuto bonded with her causing her to remember so many things from the time she was a soul reaper, she recognised the man all too well. He was the conspicuous lieutenant of Hirako Shinji, someone whose thought even hurt her. As her memories became more vivid and greater in number from her past, she recalled just how much she distrusted the man whenever she went over to the Fifth Squad's barracks. He always gave her the innocent-but-evil-on-the-inside vibes, and she never liked being alone with him whenever Shinji left for a short period of time.

Ever since her memories have began to return, her mind could not simply cease wondering how and why Aizen went from being a lieutenant under Shinji to becoming the leader of Hueco Mundo. Whatever happened in Soul Society was beyond her, and she could not risk asking anyone around out of fear that Aizen may find out her memories have returned and that she is more dangerous than anticipated.

About three decades ago when the curtain between her past and herself had began to diminish in the earlier days, she intended to visit the Soul Society and meet up with everyone especially Shinji and Yamamoto so that she can cry in their arms in an attempt to reconcile and catch up with whatever had happened the past six decades when she was gone. After becoming a Vasta Lorde, she swore to herself that she would visit soul society and explain herself to all the captains her state so they can find out whatever happened her to become a hollow; she knew Captain Rojuro would listen to her and Urahara would actually find some way to reverse her hollowfication given how intelligent and well-taught he was on the whole subject. Quite to her predicament, the very same night she ran away from Las Noches to open a garganta in the middle of Hueco Mundo to visit Soul Society, she was slapped across the head with the dreadful memory of the night she transformed into a hollow. She remembered it all; the way she cried for all of the captain's help, how they tied her up, how they watched her become a hollow, how they threw her away into Hueco Mundo after one of them stabbed her. She remembered the betrayal; she remembered it all.

The only reason she had not escaped to Earth from Aizen and all the chaos is because she wanted to discover the truth of what made her a hollow in the first place. The betrayal of soul society is all she recalls about the night; rest of it all is a blur even if she attempts to put her brain into it. She was here for the truth, not the war that ought to occur and she will only choose sides the moment she discovers what truly led to her fall from Gotei 13 and Soul Society.

Sighing, she closed the empty bedroom's door behind her before walking down the hall in search of Ulquiorra so that she may commence her duties as his fraccion from today. She knew things between her and the cuatro espada will start off rather rough given what she said to him yesterday before Aizen, humiliating him before his Lord and the director-general. Even though she wanted to be on Ulquiorra's good side from beginning, her instincts made it very hard for her to actually act upon that after seeing Grimmjow suffering.

Oh well, one way or another she has to face him.

She stopped in the middle of the hallway she was walking down and closed her eyes, using pesquisa to find the espada. When she detected him wandering around the servants quarters, she performed sonido and reached there. Standing a few feet away from him behind a wall, she began to keenly observe him command a servant to take Aizen whatever she really didn't care to lean a ear on. He was standing in the same stature as he always did, not really surprising Aida or whatsoever. Once the servant had scurried out of his sight, trembling, she saw him sigh inaudibly before turning around only to lock eyes with her awfully 'hiding' figure.

Squeaking upon the eye-contact she quickly turned around and started to take long strides away from him in a terrible attempt to pretend she totally was not spying on him from afar. When she heard his voice call her out, she threw her hands in the air, whining, before grumpily walking towards the cuatro espada.

"What were you doing behind the wall?" Jee so blunt, she thought grumpily. She took a deep breath before answering his question in all seriousness.

"I was looking around you and when I found you talking to the servant, I figured I should not bother you and began to watch from afar before approaching you."

"Hn. Follow me." And with that, the espada disappeared from her sight which only made her groan and decide to follow him, figuring she cannot get anything out of him. He was too silent for her liking, and she was already beginning to dislike being his fraccion despite finding him attractive by human standards.

What confused her in the moment was how he did not brought up yesterday's events at all, how he had restrained her and how she had shouted on him, making her wonder if following him was truly a wise decision. What if he were aiming to take her to some torture chambers inside his personal tower to punish her for speaking to him like that? Oh, the scandal!

' _You sound particularly more stupid today. Does sex with an idiot led to transfer of his stupid brain cells to you?_ '

 _Hey, shut it Milajuaro or else we won't pay Earth a visit today_.

' _Whatever, I do not care anymore. The past time, all you do is visit music shops and listen to their peculiar music or visit clubs to dance like a whore_.'

 _Milajuaro_!

' _Suck on the tip of my zanpakuto, Aida_.'

Even though she was using sonido to move left and right, following Ulquiorra towards his personal tower, Verron could not help herself but drop her jaw in shock at the earthly curse her zanpakuto threw at her, implying she was courtesan like ones she witnessed at the clubs. She could not believe the numerous curses her zanpakuto's spirit had learned upon each visit to the world of the living and now had the courage to use it on her. It knew far well she would never harm him even if her own life were on the line; she loved Milajuaro despite of being somewhat very bloodthirsty, though there were numerous times she would miss Excalibur terribly even knowing just how it had evolved and was driven insane by Morgan Le Fay's unbreakable curse upon it.

She missed it. She missed her old sword a lot.

She halted in her steps upon noticing Ulquiorra halt before the gates of the large tower that stood erected in the deserts of Las Noches. Opening the large entrance doors with a mere tap, he stepped inside with Aida trailing behind him urgently, wanting to escape the awful heat that radiated off the artificial sun Aizen had placed over Las Noches when constructing the entire area for himself and all the arrancars.

When the doors behind them closed on their own, a cold wind brushed past them, sending shivers down her spine whilst Ulquiorra was not fazed by it at all. The tower was muddy blue from head to toe with same colour tiles and walls, making her cringe. She wanted to see colour, not so much...blandness everywhere. Well, this made one thing clear and through to Aida: Aizen had absolute shit taste in colours.

Ulquiorra began climbing the long staircase that led up to top floor, which by the looks seemed to be the only floor at all. Sighing, she began to trail behind him clumsily; she hated climbing and seeing how long this set of stairs was made her only feel lazy and walk behind him in such a manner praying the reach the top as soon as possible. Continuing onto following him for what felt like hours to her, they had finally reached their destination: the bloody top floor. The teal-eyed man opened the door that led to whatever that was inside the first door that appeared before them, sliding into the room which only made Aida grumble inside her mind before trailing right into the room with him.

The room -- which Aida had discovered to be a mere tiny bedroom -- had bleak walls much similar to the walls outside of it with a door that led to a bathroom and a small single bed next to a closet sitting in it. It seemed vacant of familiar spiritual energy and looked fairly unused. She supposed Aizen had it made for anyone that ought to live in the cuatro espada's residence.

The silence that both had steadily surrounded the two for so long was broken by Ulquiorra who turned to her with a sharp look in his eyes. "Since you are my new fraccion, you will be staying in this room from now on. If you so dare protesting against what I said right now, I'll rip your throat out right here and now." He knew well the woman stayed in the same room as the reckless former espada. He knew that is where she had been last night as he had gone out to look for her after meeting with Aizen had came to an end. He also knew what they were doing the entire night.

Of course Ulquiorra knew she was going to protest; she had already been feeling the voice of protest bubbling in her throat upon his command but it died out just as quick as it had intended to erupt. She could not defy him. He was her superior and last thing she wanted was to fight Aizen's favourite pet and get annihilated by his hands before even finding out what happened to her on that fateful night that brought her where she is now. And so she did what any wise man would at that moment: nod in obedience

Seeing her response, Ulquiorra exited the room without any other word, slamming the door shut behind her. It seemed he had nothing else to say aside that..for now. She had yet to be given duties or anything affiliated to that by the espada as well as Aizen who had not called onto her so far. Her lack of surprise and reactive emotions towards his cold behaviour towards her good self did not astound the woman at all; after all, it was she who humiliated the prideful espada before his superior and shouted at him before running off spending an entire night of lustful adventures with her former superior. Putting herself in his shoes made her only realise that if anything, she deserved it.

Knowing she had little or nothing to do until she left for Earth again on a trip, she lazily walked over to the bed, throwing herself down against its comforts with a 'plop' before throw one leg over the other and placing both arms behind her head. Since there was a lack of entertaining things to do in the moment, she decided to let her mind play another flashback for her from a past that she always attempted to abandon but could not seem to. Closing her eyes in content and utmost concentration, the former picture began to play eliciting an array of emotions that resembled nostalgia.   
  
  


I _t had been an exhausting day before for her. She was occupied doing extensive paperwork all day and night including that of her own subordinate who had been doing nothing but lazing off day and night lately, not even bothering himself to join her on missions lately. He clearly took advantage of the fact that the woman would quickly wrap up his work just so that their reputation of punctuality and strength pertains strongly in the Seireitei. It irritated her to the core of course, but could she do anything to have him removed? Of course no._

_And so she went, spending an entire day doing nothing but paper work and entirely forgetting tomorrow's significant meeting between all the captains as she slept soundly in her chambers, the curtains tightly shut and restricting the morning's daylight from settling inside with half of her upper figure hanging off the bed in a miserable position as light snores escaped her. She was catching her well-deserved hours of sleep that she was compelled to miss out on thanks to her obligatory and non-obligatory duties, but of course some people certainly did not deem her as deserving of them given how a pair of individuals slide the door to her chambers open hurriedly, forcing all the bright light onto her face which only engendered a muffled groan from her mouth._

_"Verron-taicho! You're late for your meeting!" A deep and heavily masculine voice shouted out loud, making her groan even louder. She lifted her head out of the fort she had formed from the blankets, revealing her disheveled long dark locks that had easily turned into a bird's nest with strands sticking out everywhere and droopy green eyes that had unwillingly let the sunlight enter them with a pale fan that was masked with a longing expression of sheer irritation._

_Her eyes went from the brightness of the sun over to the two intruding forces that dared disturbing her sleep. After blinking and squinting her eyes, she was finally capable of focusing and figuring out who the duo were. One was a tiny woman with short black hair in a boy-cut and bark shade eyes, wearing black gloves alongside her uniform; she was wearing a look of worry and fright much similar to the male next to her who had blonde hair and green eyes, dissimilar to the person next to him. Unlike her, he also happened to be very tall roughly being a good six feet or so, and was much muscular than their uniform was giving away._

_"Third-Seat Katsuro Kobayashi and Fourth-Seat Hana Yamanaka, whatever are you two on about?" She questioned, her voice groggy and raspy like she had been deprived of drinking water for decades. Her mouth, of course, was dry; each time she would sleep with her mouth open it would become exceptionally dry and prevent her from speaking in the normal bold voice of hers._

_Both looked awfully petrified and worrisome as always. Just like her lieutenant was a couch potato, the Spirit King had blessed her with two other subordinates that were exceptionally punctual and responsible who took their duties well, not missing out on them unlike a certain someone. Hana was one that handled all the extra paperwork when she was occupied with other captain-affiliated duties; she was a skilled shinigami that mastered swordsmanship as well as shunpo. Her cleverness and witty personality alongside her other abilities quickly gave her a promotion to fourth seat in one of the stronger squads in whole of Soul Society._

_Katsuro, on the other hand, was a man that was more cunning than witty. He had a clear control over his emotions in midst of enemies and strangers, never letting his guard down around anyone except his captain and few seated officers in his own squad. Kobayashi always had his own aura that lower soul reapers happened to fear, for he always seemed intimidating to everyone; everyone except his captain, lieutenant and fourth seat. Outspoken, bold, knowledgeable, powerful swordsman and master of kidou despite of his captain's displeasure in it, he rose from Squad Thirteen's Seventh-Seat to Third-Seat in Eleventh Squad within mere decades having achieved his bankai only a few months ago._

_Even though both were wonderful seated officers, Verron would always appreciate being them less stressful and fretful._

_The tiny woman furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion, surprised at her captain's obliviousness, before pointing a gloved hands outside, crying out loudly. "Don't you remember, taicho?! Today is Promotion Ceremony of Twelfth Squad's new captain!" At that, Aida's mind went blank for a full-blown minute as her brain began to gather pieces about this 'promotion' and 'ceremony' situation only to jump out of the bed in fright that resembled her subordinates' now as she quickly began scurrying around the room, trying to get herself reading for the meeting._

_After readying her face for today in the waters, she brushed her messy but straight dark locks and pulled them into a high pony-tail that waggled side-to-side as she stood before the mirror, putting on last-minute perfume and other make-up to make herself look presentable in today's ceremony. She was not necessarily a fan of make-up but given the large dark circles that had formed after spending another sleepless night in a row, she was compelled to throw some make-up by the human name 'concealer' around her eyes so that she looks as normal and well as possible in an attempt to avert suspicions from her on this day. Since she had already fallen asleep in her uniform, she simply slid on her sleeve-less haori that had kanji of eleventh squad sewn on its back framed inside a rough rhombus shape with the inside of the overflowing coat coloured a dark-purple which has always been the squad's colour since its creation. Tying the coat tightly against her slim body with a belt made out of white cloth, she turned to her subordinates who looked as worried as they had when she had woken up._

_"What are you two looking at, run!" And with that, she began to run as if her life depended on this particular meeting, leaving the door to her messy chambers open, hoping at least one of the two idiots would have close it and saved her from humiliation by the hands of other shinigamis._

_'Left, right. Right, right, left. Now in the middle.' she thought as she took turns with each paths, hurrying to Squad One's barracks. Taking a look behind her, she watched both of her seated officers trailing as she dashed towards their destination. Aida knew well enough they were late as her eyes went onto the run that would soon stand in the middle of the sky over the Seireitei, signifying noon and hence why the captain did not even bother going over to get her lazy fukutaichou, Kiganjo Kenpachi, who was probably occupied in something unproductive as always. Hana and Katsuo both seemed so much more useful in their line of work as the Eleventh Squad than that buffoon. Her mind still could not wrap around the idea of the former Kenpachi losing to this good-for-nothing._

_Jumping onto a smaller building, the woman began to use her shunpo to jump from one place to another as she finally got closer and closer to Squad One's barracks that were unfortunately located too far from her squad's._

_Finding herself standing before the Squad's barracks guarded by tall erected walls and a thick metal gates that had 'One' painted black in Kanji over it, she led out a sigh of content before announcing her presence as loudly with her deep voice that held femininity to it. "Hello! Captain of Squad Eleven Aida Verron here, open the gates please!" Meanwhile someone was probably rushing to open the gates, she had turned her face around to find both of her subordinates standing right at her rear, one smirking and the other holding a serious expression. Both held their hands in front of them, folded as they looked into their captain's eyes who only gave them a subtle nod before turning forwards and entering the now opened gates._

_The trio swiftly made way inside as they used flash-step to make way over to where Aida spotted two particular captains standing together and possibly discussing something. Standing in their midst, she saw the captains and two lieutenants turn their faces in their directions, surprised at the idea that Aida had been late for one of the very first times._

_"Good Morning, everyone." She greeted the taichos and fukutaichos altogether with a smile on her face. The only people who were in their midst so far were Love-Taicho of Squad Seven, Shinji, Hiyori-Fukutaichou and Sosuke-Fukutaichou. Given the absence of majority captains, it seemed Aida had not been so late after all. But again, she and Kiganjo-Fukutaicho (who went along with her only after she released her zanpakuto on him) were always the first to appear in the meeting room or in Squad One's barracks at all. And now thanks to that buffoon, she broke her 'early to rise, early to grind' streak._

_"Verron, good morning to you too!" Love greeted back with a smile, his eyes probably glinting behind those peculiar pair of sunglasses he never forget wearing. Love was one of the many captains she got along on friendly terms with; the man led Squad Seven well and she could see the progress he made with the squad from all the years he spent there. The last captain was not only a failure but a corrupt man altogether, hence her gratitude towards the dark-skinned man who carried the great reformation._

_Giving him a nod she went over and signed her name along with her squad's number in Kanji, encircling both inside a rhombus with her left hand before turning to the rest of the boards that had been filled with each captain's name -- each and every with the exception of Squad Twelve. 'So, I am late after all,' she thought almost solemnly. She really broke her streak after all. After shaking her head disappointingly, she turn to the few people that stood before her. Whilst Love was distracted with speaking to Sosuke and Hiyori as Aida keenly took notice of, she turned her attention to Hirako Shinji who had been pretending not to look at her ever since she entered in their circle. He, too, noticed that nobody's eyes were on him or her so he casually slipped a smile at her which she returned as quickly as he put it on his face. The mere smile held so many unspoken promises that both shared with mere eye-contact._

_"Aida."_

_"Shinji."_

_She wished to run over to the idiotic man and give him a good morning kiss like any normal significant other would back in the human world, but she knew what he had curtly told her prior to courting decades ago. And hence came the restraint from such a bold action. Aida loved him more than anything, but she would rather keep everything hidden from the world and continue the love both shared so immensely behind closed doors._

_When the couple felt a silence sit in their midst, both began to act like two casual friends as Shinji asked nonchalantly. "So, everyone is here?" Last thing he wanted was for anyone to think he and Aida were sharing a telepathic conversation about taking over the world with mirrors and ultimate hell-hounds. A change of topic was better for the moment._

_"Pretty much."_

_"But Squad Eleven's lieutenant isn't here." Shinji was obviously displeased by the absence of Kiganjo just like her. It was his duty to appear with his Captain during such meetings; Aida demanded his presence to make her squad look the fiercest before each and every captain. That is how she maintained her intimidating aura before all; a Kenpachi for Fukutaichou was a bonus alongside her powers. Nobody dared trying to set off with them on the wrong foot when they held such a comportment in the Seireitei, not even the Quincies whom she had fought valiantly a little over a century ago._

_"He's off playing hooky again. He's blowing everyone off as usual." Love explained which made her scoff in displeasure. Hana and Katsuo said nothing, knowing the giant was their superior unlike Aida. He was a good-for-nothing and wanted him gone as soon as possible. She'd been both than happy to have either of her present seated officers taking the position of Lieutenant._

_"Bakamono! I expect nothing out of that animal." She commented ever-so-bitterly, shaking her head in disappointment._

_Shinji could only agree with Aida and simply add onto her words. "Wonder how the hell a pig like him ever became a Captain in past and now a Lieutenant." She wondered that too._

_In the past, prior to her arrival Kenpachis always killed for the title of Captain for Squad Eleven. Her promotion to the role and defeat of the ninth Kenpachi by her own hands only secured the position for her. To not only add truth but detail to her promotion to role of Taichou, it had been Kiganjo who she had defeated all those centuries ago and demoted to role of Lieutenant. She desired no bad blood between them, but it seemed it never died out even after all those centuries of working together to bring Squad Eleven so far. Their lack of co-operation on all matters, she was compelled to gather seated officers with likes of Kobayashi and Yamanaki; even though her Fifth Seat Maki Ichinose was on similar level of responsibility and strength as his superior seated officers, he held a particular liking to Kenpachi which worried her at times, fearing that 'pig' as Shinji put would influence him incorrectly._

_"What was that? I do not like it when someone speaks ill of others behind their backs." A large smile appeared on her lips as she turned around, finding her closest friends making way towards them. Her eyes met Jushiro's first and then went over to Shunsui who gave her a large smile that resembled Jushiro's well and good._

_"Jushiro, Shunsui. Good Morning!" She chirped happily. Seeing her two best friends (or whatever the humans called close friends on the human world) always made her day brighter than usual. The distress she felt from all the extensive work she did last night adding onto the lack of sleep she attained had escaped her mind as her 'childhood' friends had joined in._

_Aida had a long history with those two males. Around the same time Aida passed away in the real world and was buried next to Excalibur, Shunsui Kyoraku and Jushiro Ukitake had joined the Shin'o academy and were in their Junior year. Only after a year or so, the young woman had left the clutches of Rukongai and its poverty, joining the Academy and acing the Entrance Exam to be put in Advanced Classes. That is where she met the two males: one a complete failure of a flirt and the other, your popular but humble boy. How they met and became friends is a story for another time, but certainly with time their friendship continually blossomed as the troublesome trio were taken into respective squads and later, climbed to the highest tops with the males becoming Captain and Aida remaining a Lieutenant until Excalibur evolved into the exact opposite of what it truly signified._

_It has been centuries since the days of the Academy when they used to take out hours from their days to sit together to either spar, talk or drink. However, neither let their extensive duties prevent them from maintaining the long-existence spark of their friendship. It was upon a promise they would never break. A promise of staying together forever._

_"Good Morning to you too, Aida-chan. How do you fare on this fine morning? Imagine mine and Jushiro's surprise to find your name missing from the attendance." His voice was laced with soft humour and teasing at the fact that the woman had slept in after the exhausting sleepless night she spent all thanks to a certain fukutaichou. She gave the man a half-lidded look as she motioned her hand in the air dismissively, averting her eyes elsewhere, "Kiganjo did not do his paperwork or write any report about the other day's hollow attack in South of Rukongai district to Yama-jii which forced me to given up on my sleep and write them all."_

_The Captain 'tch-ed' for a moment as his hand over to scratch his shaved chin for a moment before replying trying to be as sympathetic with her case as possible, "Yare Yare, I cannot imagine how exhausting dealing with such a fukutaichou must be. My Lisa-chan here not only does her paperwork on time but mine too when I don't feel like doing them." His answer only made Aida shake her head in disappointment as she uttered a 'which is always' under her breath aimed at the centuries-old shinigami who did not really hear what she said, for he continually went on with a small smile on his lips with Love changing topics._

_"You're here pretty early today, aren't you Shunsui?"_

_The questioned had only made him chuckle in slight playful offense as he tried to play it off, "What are you talking about? I'm always the first one here aside Aida-chan" That blatant lie had made Verron role her eyes uttering the second time under her breath another side-comment aimed at him which went along the lines of 'except when you're not'._

_Shunsui Kyoraku, despite of being a Captain who took the position much earlier than her given his extreme level of power and experience, was a lazy man that loved to procrastinate all the time. He was always found either lazing off on his office table, head slumped against the table and sleeping heavily, on the rooftop of his barracks drinking sake and trying to sunbath or at the local bars with Ukitake, drinking sake as always. Sleep and drink, those are the only two things he lived by and it seemed things were working well for him so far.  It all worked for him mainly because of his changing lieutenants who were compelled to do not only their own paperwork but his, too. They all happened to resign from their position after every two years. Aida was well surprised to see Lisa, his current fukutaichou, remaining in her position for the past fifty years or so though she did feel bad for time from moment to moment._

_She watched the woman step forward right next to him with a monotonous face and she confessed something that merely surprised her, "I grabbed his butt to wake him up." 'How expected' thought Verron with a shaking head as she looked up to her friend who had bend to Lisa's height, eyes wide and mouth turned to the girl, whispering, "Don't speak like that in front of other captains."_

_They had a lovely relationship for Captain and Lieutenant. If Aida had to be honest, she was rather envious of their contact as superior and subordinate. She knew very well she would never obtain such a relationship Kiganjo given his profound hatred for her for the humiliation he made him go through as a Kenpachi all those centuries ago. She was supposed to kill him in order to obtain the Captain's position as that's how the tradition went. It should have been a battle-to-death. Only that way would she have not only become the Captain of Squad Eleven but a Kenpachi herself, but no; she resorted to a much peaceful modus operandi by refusing to kill the beast-looking man and denying to overtook the title of Kenpachi of that generation or any generation at all. Perhaps her refusal to take his life is what angered him and hence the bad blood. Aida was content with her powerful officers, and I suppose that was more than enough for her._

_Come to think of it then, Aida could not imagine herself with the name Kenpachi. 'Aida Kenpachi' did not have a nice ring to it, really. She was glad she never took the last name even though she is the strongest Shinigami which makes her a Kenpachi in some way but whatever, as Aida would always think dismissively._

_Her train of thoughts was interrupted by Ukitake standing to her other side who spoke of his thoughts aloud. "I do not see Hikifune around. I guess she isn't coming here anymore." He was right. Shunsui nodded in agreement to his opinionated statements, "It looks like she's already joined up with her new group."_

_Aida sighed solemnly at their words as she added on, "She was quick to leave us behind. I miss her presence already." Kirio Hikifune was the Captain of Twelfth and one of the stronger shinigamis in Gotei Thirteen. She had a bubbly personality that everyone enjoyed especially Hiyori-fukutaichou who only ever looked content and happy when the Captain was around her. Adding onto her chubby looks and wild hair colour, the woman had a very motherly persona towards everyone which made her very likable around Seireitei. Verron herself loved being in the presence of the senior captain who never hesitated radiating positive energy all the time._

_Knowing Kirio-Taicho will no longer be around them only made her feel rather under the weather as she continually walked with the Captains, making way towards the Captains' Meeting Room._

_"What a disappointment. It's not like we're in an emergency situation. She should have taken it a bit slower," said Ukitake who held his chin with his hands as if he were pondering on Hikifune's departure from Gotei Thirteen. He was right one again. What was the rush for leaving them so early? From what she knew, being in Squad Zero was really boring for none of them did anything at all. There was nothing exciting about protecting the Soul King when the Thirteen Court Guard Squads took care of everything down here. Perhaps joining them was the woman's dreams? Aida would never know. Shunsui only agreed with Ukitake whilst Shinji sighed in disappointment._

_"But ya know, we've been switchin' out captains one after another. Rose became a Captain of Third Squad just two years ago." Ah, Rojuiro. Though the man became a captain very recently, it seemed he understood things well and through on how they worked not only here but in his own squad as well. Prior to his promotion, the erstwhile Captain of Squad Three was a man admired by his entire squad as well as all the fellow-captains, however his sickness had forced him to resign which handed Rojuiro the perfect opportunity to rise to that role. Initially things were very hard for him as his squad thought of him as too laid-back and relaxed but once he displayed his strength whilst protecting his squad members from a group of hollows, word of his greatness and loyalty towards his division spread around its members like fire, earning him respect by not only the squad members but all captains as well. Otoribashi was Verron's friend as she regularly paid him visits to see how he had been doing alongside the hours-long discussion both shared on poetry from the Human World. It was their hobby and one of the many things the blond and the brunette got along on._

_Shinji was worried about the constant change of captains, that much she was certain about. But again, she did not find it bad or necessarily a thing to worry about much like Kyoraku who told him to relax and not to worry. The woman nodded her head to his words before adding on, "There's nothing wrong with changing captains. I think it's fresh and nice, don't you think Jushiro?" The green-eyed man nodded calmly in agreement._

_Kyoraku only added onto his previous statement and he began to count with his fingers, "Come to think of it, Ukitake, Aida, Yama-jii and I are the only ones who've been captains for over a hundred years, right?" Correct, she thought._

_Prior to becoming a Captain, Aida had been a low seated officer in Sixth Squad for a while before being promoted to third-seat under Ginrei Kuchiki which she remained so for a good three decades as she was content working under such an honourable man. After mastering her skills further, her rank was moved up to Lieutenant of Squad One under Yama-jii which she kept for a good four centuries until she achieved bankai and was asked by Yamamoto to fight on Kiganjo for that of Captain's for reasons still unbeknownst to her but she complied nonetheless, trusting the elder man's judgement. Ever since her win against the Kenpachi, she maintained the role of Captain of Eleventh squad for a continuous fourth century, Chojiro Sasakibe replacing her as lieutenant of Squad One. The man was a perfect choice, if she had to be honest. After spending time to get to know him, she came to realise he had more loyalty towards Yamamoto than hers and was genuinely a very pleasant person to spend time around. He looked all-things-British which only made spending time with him so much fun given her own British background. They were good friends and made sure to make best of all the time they could muster cherishing together._

_Turning her eyes to the protesting voice of Ukitake, he reminded both of them that Shunsui had forgot to mention Unohana, the only person in whole of Soul Society that sent shivers down her spine. Even Yama-jii was not capable of scaring her the way that woman did, and frankly any person who knew who she truly was would be equally scared of her._

_Shunsui only cried out a sound of agreement at his friend adding onto the name of Squad Four Captain with his pinky finger out, "Oh that's right! She'd be livid if I forgot about her."_

_Letting out a sound of 'tch', Aida rose her index finger waving it side to side in disagreement with her eyes close as she began her view on what Unohana would do, "She'd probably release her zanpakuto on you, Shunsui. That's more than being livid." Her words made the man laugh out loud, calling it "Scary stuff." which only earned a nod of agreement from both Ukitake and Verron._

_"What's so scary?"_

_'That voice.' That voice definitely stopped the trio dead in their place. Jushiro's nodding stopped as his body stiffened in its place with his legs refusing to take any more steps whilst Aida's finger became frozen in the air, her eyes wide as saucers much similar to both of her best friends and jaw dropped like Shunsui who looked more fearful than his friends as incomprehensible sounds escaped his mouth which was hanging open, minding trying to muster some excuse to throw at the frightening woman behind them._

_Only a few moments later did he come up with something. "No, nothing! We were just saying the weather is so nice it's almost scary, right?" His hands went over to his hat as he brought it down to conceal his face whilst looking at both of his best friends from the corner of his eye, motioning them to back him up through non-existent telepathic powers._

_At that, both green-eyed captains began to nod nervously, mouths twisted into forced mouths as incoherent sounds escaped their throats with the woman's finger still raised in the air. They had gotten so frightened they forgot how to speak or act, the thought of which sent all three into nervous laughter because Unohana was still standing right behind them._

_Standing a few feet away were the two lieutenants and other seated officers who stared at the three particular captains acting like a group of idiots in the presence of Fourth Squad's Taichou for reasons still unknown to them. Lisa continually looked at Kyoraku-Taichou with the same stoic as she thought aloud before dropping her head in disappointment, "My captain is such a dork."_

_Squad Eleven's third and fourth seat nodded to her statement absentmindedly with their eyes fixated on their smiling and laughing Captain. Both shook their heads, getting out of their trance before Kobayashi cleared his throat against his brought up fist before stating, "It seems our Captain is no different in their presence."_

_Hana only shrugged at their words as she leaned against the wooden pillars of the residence, a smirk underlying her facial expressions. "It's nice to see Captain all happy and relaxed, you know? She doesn't act like some asshole around them which is definitely a breath of fresh air to me." From the corner of her eye, she saw the dark-haired senior officer throw her a dirty look as if to say 'do not disrespect the captain like that' but like always, the girl only shrugged it off, not truly caring what the man had to say. Aida appreciated honest criticism from Yamanaka, knowing it will have no affect on her personality whatsoever. She liked knowing about herself from others, it only made her feel 'cooler' or whatever the humans called it._

_Back where Aida stood, the Captains had Unohana telling them about Hikifune's promotion and Third Squad's Taicho's retirement due to sickness. She went on to add about the death of Squad Ten's Captain on line of duty when he had gone to fight about a dozen Menos on his own. He knew the risks and he knew the consequences, but went solo nonetheless which only resulted in his demise. The man was a good person from heart and will but weak by strength. His passing had instilled sadness over Gotei Thirteen for a while and worry in heart of Aida initially who repeatedly visited the squad's barracks to check on the Lieutenant and how he had been holding things in the absence of their head, promising them assistance if they need anything at all; she was pleased to know that the man had been taking care of things very well which made her visits occasional by then._

_"Promoted?!" Her course of thought had yet again been interrupted by an intruding familiar voice that belonged to Sosuke Aizen as she shot her head in his direction much like the other two standing beside her. She watched him stand out from the group of fukutaichos, walking closer towards the captains which only made Shinji angry, causing him to shout at the young man._

_His superior being angered by his actions caused him to bow his head respectively before stating his sorry quickly,"My apologies! I overheard your conversation—" At that, Shunsui shook his head politely, telling the boy it is alright after which Aizen began to state his queries._

_"We lieutenants have not been told anything about this," his words made Hana scoff and mouth something like 'only you and a few other dumbasses' that made Aida shoot her a quick glare which subsided when the Lieutenant of Squad Five began again,"Is it true that Hikifune-taicho of Squad Twelve got promoted and did not retire?"_

_Kyoraku only told him that it was true._

_"A position higher than captain could only mean she has become part of Central Forty-Six, correct? But I've never heard of a captain getting promoted to Room Forty-Six before..." his curiosity and utmost inquisitiveness in regards of this matter was profoundly confusing to Aida then. What concern did her promotion anywhere hold to that boy? At the moment, she was slowly beginning to succumb into Shinji's suspicions about this boy. 'What is it to him?'_

_Seeing the moment, she decided to become one to answer this question to settle the boy's mind at peace once and for all. Stepping away from her friends, she met eyes with the young brunette as she began speaking,"She did not enter Central Forty-Six. She got promoted to the Zero Squad, also known as the Royal Squad."_

 

The evident shock on Aizen's face on that particular day was one she could not bring herself to forget till this very face. The way his pupils constricted and lips parted with a gasp escaping from them, it had been one of the very first times she saw the man so astounded and it was still unknown to her  _why_.

 


	9. Chapter 9

"AIZEN-SAMA CALLS ON YOU."

"Huh?" she questioned groggily, waking up from her short slumber that she easily took after pondering too much about her own former self again. Thinking too much about that night made her feel exhausted which easily compelled her to take a nap to retain all the energy she lost by thinking -- it's a lie, she was just epitome of lazy and liked taking naps with senseless excuses. She had no idea how many hours had passed while she slept soundlessly in her new room after all, no day or night existed in this place which had made things a lot more complicating at times than one would deem. 

After blinking numerous times, her vision finally cleared and her eyes settled on Ulquiorra who stood by the door, wearing the same monotonous expression with his hands dug deep into his hakama's pockets and a steady gaze settled on her. Sighing, she rubbed her head gingerly before sitting up on the bed and meeting eyes with her now-silent superior.

"Do you have any idea why he might be calling onto me?" Aida questioned, confused why would Aizen call onto her now of all times. Was there some matter that needed her to be sent over to Earth in order to investigate and report? If that were the case then she wouldn't mind as she intended to go to Earth today in an hour or so too; doing investigation and reporting for him in midst of it would not been something that would bother her at all. However, as she began to think again, what if him calling on her had nothing to do with reporting? She had no other possible guesses sitting atop of her mind.

The cuatro espada replied, "Lord Aizen did not tell. He simply asked me to call onto you. Other espadas were called upon too by him." Oh so it was something important, she thought to herself. If other espadas were called upon, then the matter which involved her must be of great significance. She still could not fathom why she was specifically called upon. 

Nodding her head, she raised herself from the bed before following behind her superior who exited the room the moment he saw her agreeing to his commandment. To her, he did not seem as grouchy as before which made her assume he possibly got over what she did yesterday. Ulquiorra was too difficult to read, so all ideas of forgiveness and getting came from sheer assumptions. In order to make up for what she did to make him feel humiliation, all she had to do was abide by his orders and commandments which was not all too difficult for her given they worked well together and did the same thing with her former superior Grimmjow.

Grimmjow. She wondered where he was  since he had left their former room and she had not seen him since. Aida did not even get the opportunity to tell him how her dorms had changed and she had to reside in Ulquiorra's towers with him; she did not even get the opportunity to tell him how she had become the cuatro espada's new fraccion. The sheer thought of Grimmjow's reaction to that sent shivers down her spine. He was an extremely possessive man from what she observed after all these years she spent around him, never letting his fraccions mingle with others or allowing them to be harmed by the hands of others arrancars (not like it was even possible since his were the strongest after Barragan and Harribel); he had a tendency to claim that only he was ever allowed to kill them if he wanted, showing that it was he who controlled their life and death no matter what. His words from those times sounded funny to her now since not one of his fraccions was killed by him but rather by shinigamis. All except for her, but she was not even one of his' anymore, making the matters less threatening.

Now, she only wondered how Ulquiorra possibly worked since the man had no fraccion in the past and it made her feel uneasy being the first and getting the experience of working under him. 

Once they had arrived inside the throne-room of their Lord, Aida observed the presence of all her so-called 'brethren', standing underneath Aizen who sat on top of his throne, the same neutral smile on his face with his head leaning against his propped up hand, one leg over the other and keen eyes staring at everyone in the room below him. Everyone was present in the room, including the top-three espadas with their fraccions and the rest with their's as well. She could also catch a new figure in the room but with their back turned to her, she assumed from their feminine body figure that they were a woman. Aida had never seen them before, so their presence was a certain surprise and point worth pondering for her; the presence of Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen did not go unnoticed by her as she took short glimpses of both standing next to Aizen, one of each side like loyal dogs. 

As she interestingly looked around, her eyes met with Grimmjow's bored ones who sat on top of a irregular high rock, one leg dangling off of it with the other propped up and his body leaned back with the support of his only arm. He sent a questioning look, seeing her arrive into the room behind Ulquiorra which she answered with a shrug before all their attentions were diverted towards the high man who began to speak.

"Ulquiorra, thank you for bringing Aida here. Now that she is here, let us commence this meeting" he had began to speak smoothly, stealing a glance or two of the confused female arrancar as her mind began to wonder what the hell this certain meeting that involved everyone was on about. "I called upon you all today on such a short notice is because the circumstances had happened without my permission or whatsoever, hence we hold this Promotion and Demotion ceremony in such emergency." His eyes went over to Grimmjow, a light hint of venom behind them which had the espada 'tch' and turn his eyes down to the ground. 

"Aida, Grimmjow and Luppi, step forward please." 'What?' she thought quickly, panicking as she watched the soul reaper extend his hand to motion the three particular to stand before him in the bloody spotlight. Her mind began to run like a horse, thinking up of millions of reasons why he wanted her to appear before him in the center. Was she getting promoted or demoted? If promoted, then to what role? If demoted, then to what arrancar number? With a mind full of endless questions, she used sonido and appeared right in front of Aizen next to Grimmjow and this Luppi character, who she found out to be the new feminine person she set eyes on earlier. She had no time to observe him (as she surprisingly discovered), letting her eyes meet with Aizen's intent ones. 

Never letting the smile slip from his face, he began to speak loudly to capture each and every arrancar present in the room's attention, "Grimmjow, your irrational behaviour from last night and the fact that you lack an arm makes you a liability in my espadas and army, hence I am compelled to strip off the title of 'Sexta Espada' from you and make you an ordinary arrancar in my ranks now." The man did not even let the words settle in the minds of anyone as he turned to Luppi, smiling ever so gracefully, "Luppi, given your outstanding abilities from other arrancars you are to replace Grimmjow and take over the position of Sexta Espada from this day on. Congratulations." He took a long pause at that, letting all the news settle in.

Grimmjow was no longer an espada and a feminine looking boy took over it easily. Grimmjow, who fought for this role was stripped from it so easily it angered her to the point her fists were clenched so tightly her knuckles had turned white. He did not deserve such cruel treatment, that much she was certain about. Her eyes turned over to the fallen espada who had become Pivaron Espada number one-hundred-six now, seeing the anger rage in his eyes dance so fiercely she thought he would burst at Aizen right there. 

But he didn't. 

Rather, she saw his lips turn down to a frown before he nodded and made his exit from the room using sonido. Her eyes longed to run away him, watching the exit door he left the room through with sadness though her own monotonous expression did not falter before all the arrancars as she turned her head back to Aizen, realising a newfound hatred for him open up in her heart. 

Hearing Luppi thank the man seductively and exit to stand back where he once stood, she realised the only remaining person in the spotlight was her. What did the man have for her now, she wondered seeing as the demotion and promotion had taken place without so any protests. 

"Aida, seeing as Grimmjow's fraccions have been killed dishonorably by the hands of members of Gotei 13 including your former comrade, the Eleventh Arrancar Shawlong Koufang, you are officially being promoted from the role of Nineteenth Arrancar to the role of Eleventh Arrancar in my ranks. This means that from this very day on, you are no ordinary numero; you are one of those who shall actively take part in any skirmishes or forthcoming battle taking place once the hougyoku shall awaken against the Soul Society. You are the strongest arrancar after the espadas in my army now. Relish it." He took another pause, seeing the look of surprise cross the woman's face regarding her promotion as the words began to make peace with her mind. After the passing of few seconds, he rose from his seat and announced, "That is all for today." 

'The eleventh now, huh? Oh Shawlong, never thought your passing would help me rise higher in Aizen's army,' she thought, remembering her old fellow comrade who was possibly the only one out of all five that treated her with tiny bit of respect in comparison to rest. The arrancar was calculating, intelligent and respectful. At times, he certainly provided her decent company in their superior's absence as they roamed the deserts, speaking of philosophical topics that assisted along their small-talks. She did not miss him, neither did she think of missing any of those five for they were never close since beginning. 

Sighing, she turned back and began to make way towards Ulquiorra who was staring at her reproaching figure. When their eyes met, he began to speak bluntly, "Tomorrow, you are to train with me seeing as you are my fraccion and I wish for my subordinate to be superior by strength and intellect to other's." 

Nodding, she asked her question casually, "What else do I have to do, Ulquiorra?" She really knew of no duties as she did with Grimmjow. He was extremely unreadable for her unlike her former superior and it made things already difficult for her. 

"Nothing, you have no particular duties as I am very well handling things for Lord Aizen. I do not acquire your presence around me at all times, so you are not to follow me around unless I command you so. You are to abide by each and every order I give you or I will force you into fulfilling them. Nothing else," He spoke monotonously to her despite the threatening implications in his words in regards of his power over her. She only nodded in submission to the man who, seeing her act so obediently, only made his quick exit by the performance of sonido. 

Noting his departure, Aida smiled ear to ear as she realised it's officially time to go on a trip to Earth and do shopping for Lilynette and Starrk both. 

 

Using sonido, she quickly left Aizen's palace and ran up to Starrk's towers, entering on her own accord without knocking whatsoever seeing as she was granted such permission after their long-termed 'comrade-ship'. Closing the large door behind herself, she began to stride swiftly inside the towers, eyes searching for the two arrancars. Their building was coloured no differently than Ulquiorra's or any other top-three espadas even thought Starrk was the primera; she believed he deserved a little more than all this given his power and strength, but putting his personality in light, he definitely was too lazy to even ask for a cooler room with cooler colours.

Reaching the center hall of the tower, she finally found both the espada and his fraccion. The primera was fast asleep on the massive stack of pillows put together, his six-feet-one figure curled against the comforts of those soft pillows she had gotten for him all the way from the human world, mouth hung open and eyes closed in peaceful slumber. His medium-length hair covered some parts of his long face as he laid on his stomach. She would be lying if she said he did not look adorable; he was almost always adorable when he was sleeping except when Lilynette had her hand shoved down his throat in an attempt to wake him up. It was never a pretty sight then. 

Turning her attention from him to Lilynette, the girl was sitting cross-legged next to him and playing with a giraffe and zebra stuffed dolls she had gotten for her from the world of living during last visit there, a smile on her face as she spoke on behalf of both stuffed animals, moving and crashing them. She was such an adorable child to Aida, one of the only child she loved so sincerely despite of her bluntness towards her at times. Though her visits to Starrk's quarters were infrequent under Grimmjow, she had quickly earned Lilynette's friendship with the toys she had bribed the girl with; and now, the young fraccion did not mind her presence as much anymore, rather she grew warm to it. 

"Lilynette, Starrk," she called out to both, announcing her very presence. At her words, the young child perked her head and smiled widely before getting embarrassed about it and quickly turning her face one of irritation out of sheer pretense. 'Such an adorable child,' she thought lovingly. 

The girl put her toys on the ground gently, telling them she will be right back before jumping to her feet and walking over to the new eleventh arrancar who had her hands dug into the pockets of her hakama, hair tucked behind her ear and a smile displayed ever so happily.

"Aida," the girl acknowledged. 

She gave the girl larger smile as she placed a hand on her helmet before averting eyes towards Starrk who still laid fast asleep, sighing deeply. "He's still asleep." This man could never absolutely catch enough sleep, that was a certainty. 

Starrk, though not one to get absolute attachment to someone other than Lilynette, had gotten used to Aida's visits and 'comrade-ship' that he did not have with any other arrancar with an exception to her. Truth to be told, Aida initially put more in their friendship than he or Lilynette did. Why she did it, it never cleared to him as she visited them whenever Grimmjow was gone, spending all her free time to speak to them, offer her company and just genuinely be around them. They were a sort of comfort to her, the only two people around who did not speak to her out of selfish desires like the rest. While Lilynette was more closed off at times due to getting embarrassed about spending time with someone other than her superior, Starrk was more..she could not describe it well. He seemed to find joy in her company but at the same time she could never tell with his bored and distant expressions.

 At times he reminded her of one of her two best friends, one she shared the fondest memories with but at the same time he was very different from him. Their laziness and lack of interest towards their significant duties reminded her how similar both were but at the same time her former best friend wasn't so..distant, so lonely. He was happier. He was always happy and made sure others around him felt no different. She wanted, for some profound reason, for Starrk to become or at least feel the same. She wanted him to be more happier, but for that she would had to rid him of his loneliness he felt at all times but how? How could she remove the aspect of death that represented him? How? It was a question she would get to easily answer sometime in the near future. 

"Want me to wake him up?" Lilynette asked, quirking her eyebrow up in suggestion to the girl with an evil smirk spreading across her innocent facial features. As much as she wanted to say no because she wished not for the man's sleep to be disturbed, Aida had to have him awake in order to ask what he wanted from World of Living. 

Seeing the inferior arrancar nod, Lilynette let a much more evil grin come over her face as she walked over to the Primera Espada slowly before launching her foot and jabbing it straight into his wide open mouth. 

Aida cringed slightly when she saw the man shoot up in his place, choking and coughing loudly, his wide in shock as tears began to flow down his eyes from all the coughing he did. Placing a hand against his chest, he continued to cough with a satisfied Lilynette standing over his head, smiling as mischievously as ever. Typical rebellious child that loves to annoy elders. 

Once Starrk had calmed down and rid himself of the tears flowing down his face, he turned his head sharply at the rebellious girl with an angry glare in his eyes, "Lilynette, why in the hell would you do that?" And with that, the glare slowly subsided into a look that screamed 'i need sleep even though i've been doing nothing but sleeping the past years of my life'. 

Rolling her eyes annoyingly, she pointed her thumb at a happy Aida who was smiling down at him excitedly before replying, "She wanted to talk to you." His grey eyes turned to the eleventh arrancar, seeing as how ecstatic she seemed which made him feel odd and sleepy at the same time. 

"Actually," the woman began, "I wanted to talk to both of you. Since I got promoted, I feel happy which is why I intend to go to the world of living and buy you two some stuff!" She spoke ever-so-merrily. She really wanted to make the two atom-sized happy today seeing as they are the only two folks in whole of Hueco Mundo she sees as friends (she would not dare tell them that.) Their happiness mattered to her and it somewhat made her happy, so the best thing she could do was buy their favourite things from Human World for them as it made them feel tiny bit of content in her midst. 

The duo was looking intently at her which made her feel tad bit confused but allowed it not to falter her smile, and instead coerced her to ask them once more, leaning down to where they sat and stood, "So, tell me? What do you two want?"

 

 

 

 

 

"STUPID, STUPID STARRK AND HIS VAGUE-NESS."

Grumbling angrily, she walked outside of the mall taking in the fresh air of the night but not relishing it from the mood she had, hands full of shopping bags that contained clothing items from the most famous designer companies and children's things for Lilynette. 

Despite of the weight she had on her, she continued to walk steadily, still grumbling under her breath, "Does he not understand there's no 'get me whatever looks cooler' between Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford and Prada? THEY ALL LOOK COOL?" With another shake of her head, she continued taking long strides on the side road that left the large mall inside Karakura town. 

It had been an hour or two since she had arrived to the world of living, and in those past hours all she did was choose best of the best clothing for Starrk to dress into and buy toys or other things for Lilynette to spend time on. When she had asked the man to give her a list of things she could buy for him, he had become vague and asked for similar things as before, his choice being faux coats and other suits that comprised of natural colours such as brown, black and white. Nothing else. No distinction between anything, forcing her to spend so much time choosing twenty suits and coats to buy for him from various designer brands even she preferred getting clothing from. Luckily for her, Lilynette was far more distinct on what she want which led to Aida buying the young girl some things much more special and enjoyable than toys now: two colouring books with colouring pencils. She was certain the little child would enjoy doing that in past time and would not bother Starrk anymore as well, but the possibly of the latter happening was still unlikely. 

On top of all the endless shopping, the gigai Szayelaporro had given her on Aizen's command during her frequent visits to Earth was preventing her from making extensive movement like stretching limbs to carry the bags more properly, irritating her more than usual. Certainly, today was not her day even though it was to a certain degree. 

"Stupid gigai, stupid Starrk, stupid Aizen," she whispered under her breath, about ten of those shopping bags flung over her shoulder lazily as she walked down an eerily silent path. 

It had been night and the roads of this town were more quiet than usual today with rarely cars passing on the busiest of routes. The sky was vacant of any stars and the moon had been veiled by the clouds dancing in the sky endlessly, making the woman feel more uneasy than usual. She could not even spot anyone walking down the path she had taken; it felt like she was the only person in the world within the moment. It felt odd and uneasy. 

"Usually so cars pass by, I see so many people. Why is it so silent?" she thought aloud, taking slower and slower strides, looking around so that she could spot at least one living person in her midst but her attempts came to no avail. There was no one. As much as she loved being here, she felt exceptionally uneasy with this lack of humans. She did not like them but at the same time they provided her with a sense of solace with their presence, and not having it tonight on this empty boulevard made her feel more on edge. 

 

Aida did not see it coming. She was too lost in her thoughts of being tense in the absence of humans to notice too figures behind her, sneaking and being thoroughly careful not to let her know of their presence. The time when she noticed someone behind her, it was already too late for her to do anything about it.

A deep voice chanted loudly in the previously soundless atmosphere, "Disintegrate, black dog of Rodaniini, look upon yourself and tear out your own throat! Bakudou number nine: Horine!" And with that, orange-coloured flaming tendrils surrounded and trapped her, shoving her down the ground with her hands restrained and bags all dropped down to the ground. Her face slammed against the cold hard concrete of the footpath as she was forced to lay on her stomach, arms restrained to her sides forcefully.

She knew the voice all too well as well as the user of such a feeble kidou spell on someone like her. Chuckling, Aida struggled against the binds, feeling the burning restraints injure the skin of her gigai but it did not matter much to her when she broke free from the restraints and jumped to her feet, turning around to find two old pals staring down at her with serious looks cast on their faces she could easily catch in the darkness of this night whilst they stood a good distance away from her. 

"Urahara Kisuke and Tessai, pleased to see you albeit the timings are not very just, you see," And with that, she pulled out her zanpakutou, making a run towards both men who had grown silent moments earlier only for Tessai open his bloody mouth (as Aida would say) again. 

Raising his hands he began to cast yet another spell, "" _Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six!_ Bakudo number Sixty-One: Rikujokoro!" Before Aida could even reach the two individuals, six wide beams of light that slammed straight into her midsection, paralysing her from head to toe as he sword halted in her hand, dropping straight to the ground. 

It was easy to get out of this spell; really it was for her but the fucking gigai prevented her from doing most things she could easily do without being entrapped into it. Funny, this is the last circumstance she expected to be trapped in today. 

"Tch, well-played Kisuke and Tessai. I must compliment you on getting me caught after all. Guess one can't even do shopping in peace thanks to fucking shinigamis," she spat bitterly, looking at both men with venomous glances. Seeing as no responses came out of either's mouth, she rolled her eyes dramatically before motioning at the sprawled bags laying away from her, "Oh, by the way any one of you please pick all the damn bags up? They cost me a lot, and they're for friends so if you're taking me with you or whatever, just take these along too." 

She watched intently as Kisuke began to walk towards her slowly before stopping a feet away from her, the same solemn look in his eyes as he whispered, "I'm sorry" and with that, something collided with her head, sending her into unconsciousness. 

 

 

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

"WH- WHERE THE HELL AM I AND WHY DOES MY BUTT HURT MORE THAN MY HEAD? Better question yet , WHY THE HELL ARE BOTH HURTING SO BAD?!"

 

The woman did not start off as frantically initially as she took her sweet time adjusting her eyes to the blinding brightness of wherever the hell she was now. Once she had successfully done that did she begin to register which part of her gigai-body hurt the most which ultimately led to her going into an inexplicable frenzy without so taking notes of where she was in the moment.

Even getting done with that did she finally decide to give some attention to her surroundings as her eyes went from six restraining beams of light that held her on the hard rugged ground to the enormously lengthy and wide area she was situated in in the moment. Sitting, with her back leaning against a large rock, in midst of rugged land comprising of rocks that were in decent distant from each other, her eyes decided to take a look at the roof which was painted blue much similar to the colour of the sky in earth during a clear weather day; as her eyes continually wandered around the large area, she spotted stairs that seemingly led down to where she was. Based off her observation, it seemed like a cheap training underground base.

From behind a pair of two particular twin outcrops did appear a trio of people she knew well, none of them being from Hueco Mundo quite to her dismay for the very first time; two of them were very much involved with her kidnapping that occurred how long ago, she could not remember. All she last remembers from the outrageous abduction was something particularly heavy colliding against her head; it was surprising she could not feel any headache despite of how awful the hit seemingly was prior to her fainting.

Dressed in murky green pants with matching colour shirt and a dark greyish-green coat, having large white rhombus patterns along its bottom half with traditional sandals and that God-awful bucket looking hat comprising of white and green patterns covering his upper face, the former was the first to appear, a cane dangling in his grip. Behind him walked another pal who was dressed funnier than from his times as the Captain of Kidou corps; hair in cornrows with a large handlebar mustache, which connected to his long sideburns. He wore a pair of rectangular-shaped glasses. His attire consists of a white half-sleeved shirt with regular pants and a blue apron that made him look pretty humorous in her books. Lastly followed behind them was a particular dark-skinned woman she knew as friend her former life who had her hair tied up that went down to her waist with chin-length bangs framing the sides of her face. Her attire consisted of a black sleeveless undershirt, an orange over-shirt with two white straps on each shoulder, a large beige sash around her waist, and black stretch pants with a pair of flat brown shoes which looked far more comfortable to the abductee than her own.

"Kisuke Urahara, Tessai Tsukabishi and Yoruichi Shihoin," she addressed them bitterly, a large smile that anyone could configure as fabricated easily, "it certainly isn't a pleasure to see either you of three kidnapping me on such a short notice." Had they not decided to kidnap her out of blue, she would be already back in Hueco Mundo, discussing Starrk's new suits and Lilynette's new toys with those two-- or perhaps catching some innocent zzz's before Ulquiorra would train her, something she was not looking forward to.

The trio held serious expressions on their faces, something she was not accustomed to from even her past memories. She remembered them being all sunshine and giggles from those days, especially Kisuke and Yoruichi. Had something happened in the past hundred years that possibly changed the two? She couldn't imagine.

Yoruichi exhaled deeply, dropping her folded arms before meeting eyes with the restrained woman, beginning to speak only a second later. "Is this really you, Aida?" She sounded so pained, it made the female arrancar want to throw her head back and laugh in her face. Such stupidity she did not expect out of the Head of the Shihoin clan.

Tilting her head in one direction, she took a better looked into the woman's yellow eyes and let a larger smile slip on her features that looked no different from all the century and decade ago, "Such a stupid question coming from the mouth of THE Yoruichi Shihoin is truly baffling. Who else would I be- oh wait," she paused for a minute, pretending to think to herself, letting a serious expression sit over her face before she broke into another wild smirk, "you truly think I'm some impostor because you still believe with certainty that you killed me that night all those years ago? Oh well, hate to burst your bubble but I survived! Tadaaaa."

An audible sigh escaped Urahara's lips, seeing as how bitterly the woman was acting. She did not act like the Aida they once knew; the sweet yet stoic shinigami who had climbed to the top and earned the title of Captaincy all those years ago. The woman they all knew was gone fairly; this person, this Aida, she was someone else.

Seeing as they all paused and quit speaking, Aida blew a strand of her hair hanging on her face irritably before deciding to ask a question that had been bothering her mind for a while, "Hey, uh- does this place prevent spiritual pressure from being detected by the outside world?" It looked secluded and hidden enough, so that must have been it, no?

Tessai quirked a curious eyebrow at the female arrancar before him before answering, "How would you know, and secondly, so what if it is?" How did she know it prevented spiritual pressure inside it being detected by the outside world? It baffled them that she knew even though it was her first to visit the underground area under Urahara's shop.

'So I was right', she thought, shrugging her shoulders at the Captain of Kidou Corps before answering nonchalantly, "Took a wild guess, I guess." Their silence following that was not something she liked. She hated silence, and she did not recall any of them being so silent and droopy before her hollowfication which is why she must have liked them then; she could not remember, but now she hated silent people. Kind of funny that entire pet peeve was given she had now the most silent espada for superior.

Noting as all of them were deep in their thoughts about something she simply couldn't think of and finding her sword nowhere in sight, she simply sighed and decided to use the trick Szayelapporo had taught her with this gigai. She closed her eyes momentarily, exerting all her spiritual pressure on the gigai, not letting it emit out into the surroundings and so, before she knew it, she was already out of the faux body that wore her skin with her human clothes comprising of shorts, a crop-top with sandals she had to dress in order to avoid suspicion. Now dressed in her white uniform that included her same old sleeveless shirt that exposed upper part of average-sized chest on top of which she wore a jacket that had a horizontally laid oval shaped hole, exposing the same part of her breasts; for bottom, the same hakama was worn with tabi and white socks. Her broken hollow mask's lower jaw that was attached to her very own, spreading from her one side of her jawline to another was well exposed to everyone along with her hollow hole that was in the middle of her collar-bones, right where the throat was supposed to be.

They all had a look of surprise cross their face seeing she had removed herself from her gigai so effortlessly as she stood before them, clad in her uniform with a bored look dancing on her face. Yawning, she used sonido and stood right before them, exceptionally close to the point she was evading their personal space as she whispered to them, "You seriously thought I couldn't get out of this gigai or will remain in that spell?"

Clearly alert by her movement, they all got into fighting stance as they jumped back from her, eyeing her ever-so-cautiously, Urahara's grip on his cane tightening, Yoruichi's fists up and Tessai doing nothing as he had his kidou on his side. Their behaviour was adorable to her in the moment with the anger of the past coursing through her entire body, remembering what they all had done to her. The emotions of hugging them, laughing with them, all had dissipated and what remained were the feelings that had brought upon the fate of becoming a hollow in the first place.

"Why so afraid of me? Am I not your old friend?" She pouted like a child before raising and extending her hand in the air, mentally calling out to her zanpakutou which immediately arrived in her grasp as she wrapped her fingers gently around its hilt. After an audible sigh, she placed the sword back into her scabbard that still hung on her hakama's belt, her mood for fighting suddenly faltering which resulted in Milajuaro going on another rant about lack of blood he got to shed which I would rather not write up.

Meeting eyes with the three, she waved her hand dismissively in the air before beginning to speak, "Anyways, I'm not in the mood to fight or anything. I'm simply curious as to why I was brought here by you all." Folding her hands over her chest, she met eyes with Urahara who looked like to be the de-facto leader of the particular two. His gaze was so serious, she wondered what in the blue hell had happened the past years to make him and others so serious. 

Her unsheathing her new zanpakuto did not ease their worries as they all remained in similar stances except Urahara who relaxed a little, placing the end of his cane down on the ground before returning the stare that his old friend was giving him so intently, awaiting answers. With a tip of his hat lower he began to speak, "Though your arrival and kidnapping was not what we had planned, but we wish to speak..about what happened all those years ago." And with that, the man suddenly knelt down on his legs, one hand pressed against the ground and the other holding on to his hat tightly; his movement had scared Aida which sent her back, a disturbed and confused look overcoming her facial features as she had backed against the wall with her hands up in the air suddenly, eyes wide. The 'cool-ness' she had been displaying a little over a while ago had suddenly washed away and now remained the same Aida who acted more like a teenager than some centuries old soul.

His eyes lowered to the ground, Urahara began to speak in a tone that was laced with melancholy and remorse, two emotions she expected not out of him, "I'm so sorry for what happened all those years ago, I could not reverse your hollowfication as it was one of the very first cases to appear for me and before I could even get on to the process, a unanimous decision had been made about killing and throwing your body into Hueco Mundo. I'm so sor-"

"Save it, Urahara. I'm over the betrayal of Soul Society," 'no I'm not' she had cut in the man's apologetic speech, a hand raised in the air to prevent the man from speaking furthermore. She did not want to hear excuses about what had happened to her so long ago. She was not over, she will never be. Their faces when throwing her out, she still remembers vividly but right now she was in no mood for revenge or accepting apologisies and excuses from old pals for the let her down. Her motive was solely to find out WHO was behind her hollowfication and WHY they did it; nothing else.

The man looked up to her, eyes that asked her to elaborate her answer further, and so she did what he wanted. "I'm over what happened- well not really because I'm still pissed as shit for being back-stabbed by my own friends and comrades, but all at the same time I feel too tired to care at the moment. Maybe another time when I feel less tired, I will take out time to listen to everyone's apologies and yada yada," with another brush of her hand in the air dismissively, she cleared her throat and spoke again, "The past time I have become an arrancar and began to retain my memories, I'm on a search to know who did it and why they did it." 'That's why I'm even around Sosuke in the first place, pretending to be his lap-dog much like my superior and maybe for his favour over me' she added more to herself.

Hearing her answer, he suddenly got off the ground and dusted his clothes. The questions she had on her mind clearly had an impact on him as his face darkened more than before; Aida wished that after this she never gets to deal with a serious Kisuke ever again because for some profound reason he made her feel afraid, for he felt so foreign now.

It wasn't, however, only Kisuke whose behaviour had changed from those questions. Tessai's entire figure grew extremely rigid whilst a visible frown had made way on Yoruichi's face. Clearly something had happened in her absence from Soul Society all these years, and perhaps she will learn of it now. Judging by their behaviour, none of it looked all too pleasant.

Taking a deep breath, Kisuke realised he had to tell her the tale of all those years ago which did not have much of a significant impact on him anymore, "Aida, what happened to you- it was Sosuke Aizen who caused it. Aizen was behind your hollowfication; you, as the Captain of the strongest squad by strength were his first experiment."

Those green eyes that were staring at him boringly moment ago had turned half lidded before she exploded into loud maniac laughter that rang out through the large space, bouncing off the walls of the entire place; her laughter sounded psychotic and inane at the same time with her bold voice making it sound more sinister. With her head thrown back, she continually laughed whilst her former comrades stared at her in mild shock, wondering why in the hell was she laughing at the truth they had put in a platter before her.

"You expect me to believe that?!" she asked loudly between her laughter, tears collecting in her eyes from all the chortling she did. Aizen, the same man who helped her transform into an arrancar was behind her hollowfication?! The same innocent lieutenant of Squad Five?! The same Aizen had capability of turning her into a hollow? If these three were taking some kind of drugs that helped them speak so aimlessly, then she'd like to know where they got it from so that she could get some for herself as well.

Yoruichi stepped forward, glaring at the woman who had stopped laughing and began to wipe tears from the corners of her eyes through her index finger, a smile still on her face from all that guffawing. "It's the truth whether you believe it or not, Verron. And it was not only you whose hollowfication he was behind!" Her smile suddenly dropped at that, curiousity overcoming her thoughts at the woman's last sentence. She still did not believe them, but whatever did the shinigami meant by her not being the only experiment?

"What do you mean by that?"

"It means-," Urahara stepped forward next to Yoruichi now as he tilted his hat upwards to meet eyes with the female arrancar once again who did not look as insane as she did over a few seconds ago, "-he hollowfied others close after your successful one, some of them being our very own comrades." 'Comrades?' did he mean members of the Gotei Thirteen? If yes, then who? Her mind was swarming with questions once more.

"Who, Kisuke?"

Hearing her call him by his first name just like the old times made him feel warm for some unknown reasons as her voice had gotten serious and soft just like it was once a century and decade ago as it took him back to the happier times where it was him and her, talking about his inventions and how well he was handling his squad and particularly his very lieutenant who happened to not like him just like her very own did not share liking to her. He missed Aida more than anything, and now as she stood before him dressed up as the enemy, standing on the enemy's side, he did not feel very comfortable around her as he once did.

Shaking thoughts of the past from his head, he decided to give her an honest answer, something he felt like she deserved to know after what had happened and most importantly to make her realise the depth of Aizen's betrayal. "Lieutenant Hiyori Sarugaki of Squad Twelve, Captain Kensei Muguruma and Lieutenant Mashiro Kuna of Squad Nine, Lieutenant Lisa Yadomaru of Squad Eight, Captain Rojuro Otoribashi of Squad Three, Captain Love Aikawa of Squad Seven, Lieutenant Hachigen Ushoda of Kido Corps and lastly-" he paused for a moment, only fathoming the reaction of her's upon hearing the name, "- Captain Hirako Shinji of Squad Five."

Her non-existent heart had dropped and her eyes had gone wide as saucers with her pupils constricted while he recited each and every fallen Captain's name. She was left in awe, now knowing that her fellow comrades had already been hollowfied right after her and it wasn't just her fellow comrades, but her close friends she had so sworn to protect during life and in death. Rojuro was close friend who she paid frequent visits to any chance she got, Lisa was someone she once talked about Shunsui with so bluntly, Kensei was hard but he and Mashiro were good friends to her, Hachigen was an adorable old large man she loved complaining about kido too knowing how well he was the lieutenant of the kido corps, Love was somebody she enjoyed speaking about the human world's fashion to as he copied hairstyles that were trend in human world from the magazines she'd steal, and Shinji- Shinji was a past love she still held lingering feelings to with each memory that struck her of the their private affair behind the closed doors of the Seireitei and their chambers.

A dark look overtook her face once the shock had washed off as her arms dropped with her fists clenched tightly to her sides, nails digging into her palms so hardly, she could feel them pierce the skin. Her teeth began to grit tightly against each other, mind suddenly in a turmoil while it wondered how in the hell a mere lieutenant of Squad Five, who she knew to be so innocent was capable of causing such insanity and bringing down so many captains, including her, all on his own. Surely Yamamoto would never support him or anyone else in power, for hollows were a threat to everyone and a former powerful shinigami-turned-hollow? It was a no. His rise to becoming King of Hueco Mundo was certainly something that made her quirk an eyebrow from time to time, but it did not bother her knowing how corrupt Soul Society was; certainly he must have gotten tired and moved to Hueco Mundo with Gin and Kaname, no?

She was bored previously, not in the mood to fight for she wished to get off on the right foot with her former friends and listen to their guesses about her hollowfication but hearing them speak to certainly about Aizen being behind it and them bringing up her other friends including her lover to possibly manipulate her into believing sent jolts of fury all over her body. Their lies were becoming even more unbelievable now though this one certainly made her snap.

"Do you seriously expect me," she raised her hand in their direction as she pulled out her index finger, folding her rest into her palm before concentrating all spiritual energy at the tip of it, a black ball of energy forming and growing larger by each passing nanosecond, "to BELIEVE THAT?!" and with that said, she fired the cero at the shaken shinigamis who performed shunpo and moved out of its way, allowing it to hit and crash the distant wall of the underground base. The cero was small and quarter of the kind she could perform.

Urahara was the first to unsheathe his sword from his cane, pulling it up to his defense whilst Yoruichi who had gotten into a fighting stance stood next to him and Tessai, the only man who had balled his hands into fists instead of doing anything else. "Aida, we are not lying to you!" shouted Kisuke, realising how the woman could not bring herself to believe the truth. To put himself in her shoes, he knew how unbelievable it all sounded after spending an entire century in a bloody desert, away from what had taken place right after your hollowfication and absence.

But Aida listened not. The rage came out almost naturally as she unsheathed her sword and positioned it horizontally in the air before collecting all reishi in the air at the sharp ends of it before whispering, "Cero Extremidad" as a black beam went off from the cutting edges of the blade towards the three that stood together; the black beam was long and with the speed it went towards them, there was a certainty they wouldn't survive had they been ordinary shinigamis but she knew very well they would.

And she was proven correct when the cero exploded in mid-air sending dust and rocks everywhere while the ground underneath them shook vigorously from the explosion from which the three appeared again, unscathed just like she had expected. All they were doing was coughing loudly from all the dust that rose from the ground. From hazy air, she saw Yoruichi turn to Urahara and shout, "There is no point in explaining things to her. We have to fight and knock the truth into her head!" some words made her want to double over and laugh. First they lie and now they dare fighting and fathom knocking lies into her? Had they become naive over the years or what? She had a feeling her friends were still all in soul society, in their respective positions and enjoying lives to the fullest before Aizen initiates the winter war. It was impossible for them to become hollowfied and lose so quickly to the former lieutenant who was now a new leader, and besides why would he turn them into hollows a century earlier before becoming the king of Hueco Mundo? There was lack of logic behind their accusations and claims.

All the distance away he stood, she saw Urahara lock eyes with Aida before speaking in a low voice to the feline woman so that the arrancar could not hear them, "Bring one of 'them' here. I am not letting her go tonight until she learns the truth. This must, I owe to her." Upon hearing his command, Yoruichi without so a nod exited the place knowing how well Kisuke and Tessai would handle the woman.

Once the grime particles had settled down, Aida realised Yoruichi was missing from their side as her eyes began to survey the area, causing her to chuckle, a little offended by her absence. "Sent Yoruichi away because you think you two alone can actually handle me? Yare yare, such overconfidence will prove heavy for both of you know." Maintaining her sword in the same horizontal position she let a smile that held no pure intentions slip on her face for a while, "You see, I fear for my spiritual pressure being detected by my superior which is why I prefer being discreet in regards of my reitsu. It really astounded me, knowing you guys found me so easily during abduction. Perhaps there's something wrong with this gigai which I need to take a look at, but anyways. Since my spiritual pressure cannot be detected by the outside world here, I do not have to hold back against you two."

Making distance between both her legs, placing one ahead of the other, Aida raised her other hand and placed her thumb on the upper side of her sword whilst the other fingers on the lower side, her spiritual pressure suddenly rose, making the air so dense Urahara and Tessai's pupils constricted in awe. They were finding it harder and harder to breathe with former Captain of Kido Corps on the verge to fall to his knees; the only person they knew who could emit such heavy spiritual pressure was Head-Captain of the Gotei 13.

"I do not know who went against Shawlong here, but certainly they were lucky. He was weak, yet he deemed himself above than me. Oh well, he's gone now and I'm here, taking over his position. Allow me to introduce myself better since I'm not really the person you knew a century ago now," She cleared her throat and then shouted over her boulder of reishi half of which she was emitting now, capable of crushing lungs of any soul reaper below the role of Captain, "I'M ARRANCAR NUMBER ONCE, AIDA VERRON!"

With that, she swiped her fingers against her sword blade in a whim, her spiritual decreasing from the air but surrounding her aura now, blackness of it spouting off of her like it had when she presented it to Ulquiorra. Her face had become serious now, the same way as it once was too long ago with eyes burning the same fiery way they did as the words were uttered in the air,

"Tear their flesh inside out. Roar, Milajuro."


	11. Chapter 11

**_THEIR MOUTHS WERE LEFT HANGING OPEN JUST AS SHE HAD EXPECTED_**. 

 

 

Tilting her head to the side with her eyes half-lidded and lips in a pout seeing as how their expressions went from shock now to serious ones, knowing now Aida was no ordinary arrancar to deal with. She had extremely high spiritual pressure without her release form and in possession of a shikhai form of her zanpakutou, something none of the shinigamis had seen in case of of the appearing arrancars. The zanpakutou in her grasp had not grown into a blade thin from the white hilt and thickening towards the tip of it, black in colour much like Ichigo's zangetsu in bankai state and curved like a scimitar though much more superior in beauty to it. 

"What's wrong, you two?  Wondering how I, an arrancar, has a shikhai form to my zanpakutou?" She questioned, a strong sense of mocking in her tone of speaking as she twirled her sword around from its hilt in a careless manner, "The answer is simple: I am no ordinary arrancar. I wasn't born a hollow nor did I undergo the transition of becoming a gillian, then adjuchas and later vasta lorde. I was a shinigami when I became a hollow, and so I still have powers of one. Aizen saw it best giving me another shinigami zanpakutou as I do not know where in the hell Excaliber is." Sighing, she waved her free hand in the air in a dismissive way before whispering, "Not that anybody here cares." 

She pointed her sword at the two who were eyeing her cautiously from afar, eyes still having a look of boredom in them, "Anyways, who wants to come at me first? I just realised I am in no mood to fight once again. Guess releasing this dumbass's shikhai form took my motivation away." Milajuaro was already ranting inside her head, calling her all kinds of profanities it had come to learn in the world of living  before Aida shut off its voice, not in the mood to hear the bastard call her a courtesan and all its synonyms. 

Tessai decided to step forward seeing as he raised his hand, a finger pointed at her before he began to chant loudly, "Hadou four: Byakurai!" a blue bolt of lightning aimed at her erupted from the tip of his finger, travelling towards the woman with the speed of light. Quite unfortunately for him, Aida knew of that low-tier spell too well and how it was unmatched to her hierro now as it closed up on her. Just when it reached her, she slapped it away with the back of her, letting it hit a wall nearby, sending a small explosion into the air. 

"Was that it? Jee, I expected more out of the captain of Kido Corps," she spoke almost arrogantly, 'tch-ing' to herself at the end of the sentence. 

The man, at that, shouted loudly, "FORMER CAPTAIN" which clearly caught her off-guard as she had turned to him with a look of surprise in her eyes, not believing he was no longer a captain of the corps. Her reaction to his words had given him enough time to put out a hand and chant another kidou spell, "Hadou thirty-one: Shakhahou!" the red ball of light travelling and hitting the paralysed woman in her steps, sending off a large explosion. 

Tessai shared a look with Urahara, wondering if the attack hit her or not. 

The two were overcome with surprise when they realised, as the dust had settled, no one stood where she once did. She was nowhere to be found with their eyes observing the entire area, hoping they'd see her but it came to no avail. The training base reeked of her spiritual pressure, indicating she was still here, just out of their sight. 

"Boo." she whispered behind them, forcing both men to do a one-eighty degree turn, one with their sword out and the other holding his hands out to perform some other kidou spell. Her prowess had changed from the past years with the exception of the same darkness that emitted from her when a zanpakutou in hand. The fact that she could easily sneak up behind either without making either aware was enough to have them wondering how much more powerful she had grown. 

Using sonido, she moved ten steps away from them before whipping her sword with minimum force before whispering, "Breathe, Milajuaro!" as the black bolt that came out of the sword changed shape into a wolf's large head with its mouth open, making way towards them with speed of light before it swallowed both men, transforming into a black sphere and bursting into dark flames as the explosion of the attack rocked the ground once again. 

She sighed seeing no one come out of the attack; they were either injured or had escaped from the ball before it detonated like a bomb on her order. Aida saw them getting engulfed by it, that was for certain; rest, she knew nothing of. 

Deciding to be merciful enough to check on them, she began to question out loud, "Uh, are you both okay? I sure hope you are- Huh?" She questioned confusingly seeing as her surroundings suddenly shifted and become something resembling the deserts of Hueco Mundo. It almost felt like she had been teleported elsewhere which initially confused her but her mind began to click almost immediately. 

"Illusions, tch. You should know better than to play those on me," She called out into the never-ending deserts of whatever place she was being shown illusions of, shaking her head disappointingly. From the corner of her eyes she saw a fast approaching figure of Urahara- no, someone impersonating him as its spiritual pressure felt different. As their sword came down on her, she brought hers forward, their blades clanging loudly against each other. 

Her spiritual pressure that she had dropped a while ago out of habit rose again, sending the Urahara impersonator to their knees quivering. The next person to follow was the person creating the illusions as she found herself returning to the training grounds, a young blonde girl on her knees with her hands pressed to the floor beneath them next to some other boy dressed in violet wearing a jacket over him that concealed all but his eyes she couldn't see from the angle of depression she stood and stared at the three boringly. The person to impersonate Urahara had turned back to normal as a man whose half hair was blonde and the other black, wearing a hat much similar to people from nineteen century England; his attire was no different than from men of that era funnily. 

"Lirin, Kurodo!" shouted the boy with concealed face in a strained voice to his friends who were struggling to breathe just like him under the extensively high spiritual pressure that the female arrancar had exerted on them. Just what kind of heavy and powerful reitsu was it?! They had never, in their lives as mod souls, encountered it. She looked as unaffected as ever, staring down at them with pity underlying those green eyes as they struggled to even take in oxygen from her pressure. Their plan to help Urahara and Tessai, despite knowing how well they would handle her, had completely backfired on them as they knelt before her in prostration unwillingly. 

"What are you three? I've never seen your kind of power befo-" she was cut off in middle of her sentence when her eyes went over to a little girl dressed in a pink floral dress kneeling with a large rocket launcher on her shoulder aimed right at her. Next to the child stood another with fiery red hair hair, some peculiarly large baseball bat looking weapon weapon slung over his shoulder. When their eyes met, the boy began to run towards her clearly keeping distance from the rocket launcher's path as the girl launched many cannonballs that came towards her, sending Aida's eyes wide open. 

They were a lot faster than Aida had anticipated as three of them had hit her before she could use sonido and move out of its way. With her spiritual pressure dropped, she went straight onto the ground, kneeling on one leg as she figure slid across the rugged ground without disrupting her pose. Once she had come to a halt, she wished to take a moment to recover from the blows that had hit her but no opportunity was given to her as the same fiery-haired boy appeared in her face. With his bat ready to take a swing he shouted loudly, "Jinta Home Run!" before hitting her across the throat, sending her flying backwards, rolling on the ground like a wheel as her head repeatedly collided with the ground until she came to a halt with her body slamming against a rock loudly. 

A loud groan escaped her lips when she had finally stopped rolling on the ground as she quickly brought her legs together to stand up which she successfully did before she met eyes with the three people with peculiar powers and the two children that had beaten her up with no effort, a dance of fury in them. Taking her sword out, she grabbed onto its hilt tightly, speaking loudly to all. "I went extremely light on Tessai and Urahara both seeing as they're my former comrades, but calling onto children to defeat me seeing as how soft my heart is to them? Pathetic. I shall show mercy to no one now, including the children." 

With that said, Aida using her other hand grabbed onto the area of her arm that comprised of the hinge joint before taking it to the right, the sword firmly held, as far as she could before giving it the largest medium-level whip sending a large black bolt of energy towards all that stood in the room, whether it been the children or others. "Breathe, Milajuaro." The horizontally laid strike of black lightning traveled towards them with such speed that made them wonder if they would even make out alive, seeing the large light take impersonation of a wolf's head once again, though this time much, much more enormous.

Aida waited for it to hit them impatiently, to see the creation of a black sphere engulf them and explode on the inside, bursting into flames later. It never happened. 

Rather something hit back and nullified its collateral effect. Once the area had come clear of blurry dust, she saw a massive rupture in in the ground underneath them that laid out horizontally separating the area where she stood and the area all the children..and Urahara alongside Tessai stood. Both men's faces had turned more stoic than before, the Captain of Squad Twelve's being the worst who looked tad bit angered at her actions. It seemed to her he hit and negated her attack with the one he used against Yammy's cero, though this one was far superior in strength than one he displayed against the espadas that day.

"It is me and Tessai you wish to fight, ne Aida? Then fight us. Do not attack children. The Aida we knew would have never attacked children even if they were enemies," His words of ice send jolts of fury down the woman's spines as she watched him and Tessai use shunpo and stand only few feet away from her after commanding the children to take shelter. How dare he remind her again of her past self?

She gripped so tightly onto her sword's hilt that her knuckles began to grow white from all the tautness of the skin she was applying as she shouted at him, "Don't you dare mention the old Aida to me EVER AGAIN. She's dead, Kisuke! You hear me? She died the moment you threw her into the pits of Hueco Mundo and stabbed her! I'm not that Aida, I will never be!" With that reminded to them, she wasted no time in pointing the sword at his chest before whispering to her sword the same incantations, another bolt of dark energy shooting from it and speeding towards the man. 

He immediately formed a hexagonal crimson shade shield to stop it which sent him and the barrier that kept the black energy from hitting backwards as the attack did its best to hit; there was no stop to this attack as it didn't dissipate until it had hit a target. Kisuke dug his heels into the ground as he was pushed back by the flash that desired to render him so stubbornly. It continually fidgeted and pressed against the barrier, not letting go, until it grew so agitated that it divided into two before going on either side of the shield and hitting the wall behind him, setting off two large blasts upon collision. 

Seeing the ferocity and adamant of Aida's simplest offense, Urahara pressed a hand against the top of his hat, taking a glimpse of the female arrancar's figure before stating aloud, "My turn. Nake, Benihime!" before launching a large crimson shade blast at her from the energy that flowed out of his zanpakutou. 

Aida, seeing the red energy make way in her direction quickly raised her sword in the air before drawing an airy circle that immediately transformed into a dark shield much similar to Urahara's except for its enlarged roundness as it protected her against the discharge of scarlet reishi which emerged out of Benihime, "Defend, Milajuaro."  She did not even need to be pushed away for her shield stood still stationary ahead of her, stood and resilient against the greatest of attacks. 

Seeing Urahara's face falter and Tessai's stiffen at her defense against the attack made her sigh and answer the questions that must have been on their mind the moment they saw not even a scratch on the barrier from the assault, "You do not have the will to fight me, Urahara, which is why the attack could not harm my shield." Their attacks were boring her again as quickly her anger escaped; she just wanted to go home now and sleep. 

She closely observed as Tessai and Urahara both exchanged looks with one another; ones she could not configure at all. Destroying her barrier immediately with her blade as it disintegrated into black ashes, she placed the tip of her zanpakutou down before tilting her head confusingly to the side at their mind-linked interactions. "First you two, for some reason, fight like shit, despite of being captains in Soul Society. Now you two are having some telepathic conversation I can't understand? Jeez, what's up with you shinigamis?" 

Aida's eyes became fixated on Urahara who smiled at her, making her suddenly all suspicious, as he raised his sword in the air, letting it go as it began to levitate in mid-air making her thoughts muddled suddenly. 'What is this?' she thought with clear astonishment written on her face, watching him tap onto the sword's hilt gently, causing it to spin in circles like a fan on maximum speed before a gigantic, violently circling tornado erupted out of it with the words spilling out of his mouth effortlessly, "Hado Fifty-Eight: Tenran". The kidou art she never learned sent her flying backwards as she collided against the rough ground once it disappeared. 

Just when she attempted to get up shakily off the ground, still not yet over the blow of the kidou attack, Urahara and Tessai put their hands closed to one another as they began to recite loudly in sync, "HADO THIRTY-TWO: OUKASEN" their attacks combining and creating a large arc shaded yellow that sped, hitting a thoroughly shocked and paralysed Aida who did not even move an inch before the attack rained down on her like the Holy Ghost. 

This particular fulmination was stronger than all previous ones ranging from Urahara's to her's as the earth beneath them shook so fiercely the three mod souls and two children all fell to the ground, groaning and gasping, with Tessai and Urahara forcing their heels into the ground to prevent themselves from tipping over as a large cloud of pale smoke erupted from where they launched the double wave of strikes on the arrancar, the dust engulfing them with itself as the two began to cough from its intake immediately. 

As they pursued coughing, their eyes went wide when from beneath the ashes emerged a limp Aida Verron, livid and ready to kill. When the dust had scattered all over, they saw the clear damage the attack had done to her watching whilst she used her zanpakutou as her support to stand straight. The white leather jacket she had worn over her alabaster crop-top was all tattered and torn on her, all of it missing from her right arm as it was blow away from the attack's impact; grazes covered her from her head until her very arms, all that was visible to the eyes. Her clothes that were chalky white had gone all dirty with staining dust and dark burns all over her hakama, the only article of clothing barely surviving was her crop-top as she had grabbed her jacket and ripped it off her body, revealing her barely hidden chest and taut stomach, smooth and clear of any injuries. 

"I went easy on you, ON EVERYONE HERE," she spat out with her spiritual pressure rising to the same former level again, making the air heavier for everyone and harder for the weaker to take in and out, "There is a line for my mercy no one should cross, not even my own former friends." Standing upright, she picked her sword off the ground and placed it in the air horizontally once against with its piercing blade facing her. 

Making distance between her legs, she took two fingers and ran them across the cutting edge swiftly, slicing them as blood began to drip already from the self-induced wounds. The act in itself spiked her spiritual even more than previous, sending even Urahara and Tessai to the ground, struggling to breathe now with the air so dense and heavy, their vision had began to blur; the ones that stood behind had already began to scream and squirm from the extraordinarily high spiritual pressure in the air. As long as both shinigamis knew, only Yamamoto had the reitsu capable of sending even lieutenants to the ground. They were former Captains; how was she capable of possessing such spiritual pressure without Aizen deeming her as a threat worth eliminating? 

She took both of her bleeding fingers and placed them on the sword's starting fuller before moving them briskly across it until the tip as she opened her mouth to call out the final command, "Howl, Mila-" 

"GRAB HER. BOTH OF YOU, USE KIDOU TO HOLD HER DOWN."

"Hu-" Before she could even complete the word, she was already kicked to the ground in the back with six swords pointed at the back of her throat whilst she was forced to lay flat on her stomach. Her spiritual pressure suddenly dropped, her eyes not capable of catching the culprits as the words she could not even comprehend -- just like the sudden change of situation at hand -- began to 

"Hai, BAKOUDO NINETY-NINE: KIN"

She felt something wrap around her arms and legs tightly which suddenly limited movement of her limbs altogether as she began to struggle against it once the swords had been lifted off her neck. Not caring for who stood in front of her, she took careful looks at the black cloth wrapped securely around the imminent parts of body that extended and had large slabs carved out of seemingly heaviest of stones placed in great numbers upon them. Despite seeing and experiencing how heavy they were, she still struggled and tried to raise her spiritual pressure but came to no avail. 

Not looking in front of her she began to chuckle loudly, eyes closed in sheer arrogance as she declared loudly, "Using such bakoudo against me. Do you forget that-" she reached with her hands and grasped the black fabric, pulling on it with all her might before tearing it into bits, "-I'M A FORMER KENPACHI?!" her hands now set free, she pulled onto her legs and tore those restrains off as well before jumped to her feet. 

With her zankpakutou in her grip tightly now, she pointed it forward as her eyes finally found those who dared seizing her when she was on the verge to perform her resureccion. Upon seeing the identities of those 'intruders', the tropical flame in her eyes that blazed freely suddenly died out and was replaced with bewilderment alongside nostalgia. 

"Y-you?" 

"Yare yare, Aida-chan. Haven't you lost quite a grip on your anger?" 

 


	12. Chapter 12

"Y-YOU.."

"Yare yare, Aida-chan. Haven't you quite lost a grip on your anger?"

The zanpakutou she held onto so tightly slipped from her grip as her hands lost movement much like her other limps before her knees buckling underneath her, eyes wide as saucers from seeing all of them -- all of her friends stand before her, some with smiles and others with stoic faces. 

Aida could not bring herself to believe it. They stood right in front of her -- Kensei, Mashiro, Lisa, Hiyori, Love, Rose, Hachi and Shinji; all of them. The same people she spent countless decades in midst of; ones she shared so many fond memories with in good times and the bad. They were here. She did not really care they had their swords shoved against her throat nor did she care about their using bakoudo binding spell on her to keep her down, no. All she cared about is the fact she reunited with those she loved and cherished so endlessly all those years ago. It was them who became her anchor after her hollowfication. Though deprived of most memories, she always remembered the faintest of things, some blurred faces, some blurred names and some blurred moments; hazy but there and that is what always kept her from becoming a ravenous animal like the other adjuchas or arrancars. The hope she would meet all of them again one day. Aida Verron, though as cold as she acted before, used them as her hope to continue living to this day. 

She lived and breathed for the day she'd get to be with everyone from Soul Society again. 

Before she knew it, tears had began forming in the lower corner of her eyes and slipping down her grazed face, making the cuts sting a little but she cared not. She was too shocked and under the emotion of nostalgia to pay heed to small wounds. 

Her eyes first settled on Lisa who looked about the same as she once did; aqua shade eyes always kept half-lidded from bored, lips in a thin line and eyebrows furrowed together at the sight of her old friend. She was dressed like a typical high-school girl with hair in a braid that had bangs hanging over her fast. Stood next to her was Love, wearing a God-awful hairstyle designed like Patrick Star with side-burns; he was in a turquoise jumpsuit wearing another trendy pair of glasses and staring down at her with an odd look on his face Aida had seen not before. 

Aside him was the tall and lean figure of Rojuiro Otoribashi who had left his hair open that were about the same length as one hundred or so years ago; clad in a black suit under which he wore a white shirt that was frilled, resembling his frilled undershirt long ago. For some reason, he had a much pleasant smile on his face than the rest. 

Mashiro and Kensei stood adjacent to each other, with Mashiro looking no different than she once did except for her attire that comprised of an orange and white body suit and those weird pair of goggles that she had on top of her outrageous green hair; she was smiling in her same childish manner at Aida. Kensei, on the other hand, looked A LOT different to her. The man she always found outstandingly handsome had cut down his hair shorter and had a few piercings over his eyebrow and left ear. He wore a dark purple shirt with a white trim, in addition to green cargo pants, black combat boots, and a pair of orange fingerless gloves; the man had also lost some of his muscle which made him look more lean than ripped like he once did. 

Right in front of the two stood the iconic Hiyori, still short as always with the vampire tooth sticking out proudly. Quite to Aida's relief, absolutely nothing had changed about the girl, not even the scowl that she was staring down at her with. She wore a white shirt and a red jogging suit, the latter with white lines running down from the shoulder. Hachi, who stood behind all, was dressed in a dirty green suit, white shirt and a cute yellow bow-tie that looked adorable on him; he was one of the only three people who were smiling at her. 

The person who stood exactly two feet away from her was him, someone she did not expect to see after her disgraceful fall and transformation into a hollow. Her memories and feelings long faded away, making her a product of all the negative emotions she bottled up, the only person she could feel any sense of home towards stood right before her with a stoic face. The man she loved once upon a century ago, his eyes were empty when he was looking at her, all on her knees, crying and vulnerable like he never admired her once. Like he never once uttered his feelings to her, like they never laid under the stars and promised the impossible to the other with plans for future so bizarre anyone with their exception would not understand.Like he never knew her. 

Like he never loved her.

Her heart, had it been in her chest, would have broken and there would have been excruciating pain which would have no medication whatsoever. But now, she lacked a heart. She lacked feelings that would make her feel wholesome. She lacked the Aida Verron who would have fallen apart at the emptiness in his eyes whilst he dared looking into hers. 

Aida Verron, the one everyone in the room knew, was dead and the person they were seeing before their eyes was just a figment of that person; the skeleton. The heart what made her who she was -- a Kenpachi, the former Captain of Squad Eleven, pupil of Head-Captain Yamamoto, lover of Hirako Shinji -- had long left. 

She was Arrancar Number Once under Sosuke Aizen, a sword and a pawn in the long-run to become a god. He shall dispose of her when seen necessary, nothing else. 

 

 

"I- I-" she stuttered, her gaze falling to the ground in shame for no words could come out. She knew not what to say. Aida had planned so much, so much for when she shall meet everyone but right now, she did not know what to say. 

She was left speechless and ashamed. A feeling of insecurity had embraced her as she remembered; she was an arrancar, the enemy and nothing different to the hollows they usually killed. She was the enemy, the foe, the antagonist of this story and they were the heroes. She was meant to die, and they to thrive. 

Enemies, after their imminent time of glory, become disposable; heroes do not. 

 

She finally took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, wiping the tears out of her eyes before standing upright and meeting eyes with everyone of her old friend one by one, a fabricated smile on her lips. Opening her hand and letting her zanpakutou enter her grip once again as she immediately transformed it into its former shape before placing it back into its scabbard quickly.

"I-" she cleared her throat and smiled wider when she found herself on the verge to cry once again, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but it is best I leave now. It was nice seeing everyone's face here." With that said, she began to take long strides away from the ground before using sonido and attempting to exit the ground, placing one foot over the ladder leading to outside until a familiar voice called out to her,

"We came all the way here to meet you and this is how you leave us? That's not very nice, Aida." 

She slowly turned around and found Rojuiro standing right behind her, a gentle look on his face like always. It was not he who said those words but it seemed he was the only one who bothered flash-stepping behind to stop her. Looking up, Aida looked into his soft violet eyes that held so much warmth, she could not stop herself from stepping back and running into his arms. 

Just as she had wrapped her arms around the lean man's waist tightly, she felt a returning pair embrace onto herself gentle whilst she sobbed against his chest profusely. Initially, she had felt him stiffen but immediately grew to it when he hugged her back and began to rub gentle circles of comforts on her back. 

The other Vizards who stood in their spots watched from afar the woman, who was renowned for her extra-ordinary strength physically and mentally during all kinds of situations, crumble into Rose's grasp so quickly they could not believe it was the same shinigami they shared comrade-ship with so long ago. But again, it was not her. Clearly when Yoruichi had come to visit and tell them the shocking news of Aida's arrival, this is not what they had in mind.

 

 

It was another day of training Ichigo for the Visoreds as they aimlessly watched Hiyori beat the existence out of the boy with punches and kicks in the underground base Urahara had built specially for them over a long time ago. 

Rose and Love were occupied in reading a Shounen manga, with Love spoiling things for the blond who could not stop complaining about whilst Lisa was indulged in reading another women's magazine that contained very explicit photos of women on top of a rock. Mashiro was busy with Hachi, annoying him but the man, being too polite, was saying nothing as always; he had gotten used to it after a hundred years. Kensei was watching the fight much like Shinji who was taking note of the time keenly, seeing just how long could he keep his mask on and so far no progress had been made. 

Whilst they were onto their regular routine, Yoruichi had made way into their shed through the barrier by means she never told anyone, panting with mixed emotions clouding her face. For a moment, all had thought Aizen had declared war before they even knew it which sent them into mild frenzy but it was nothing of that sort, fortunately; it was worse. 

Aida had returned. 

Shinji had been the one most surprised by it and not taking the news exactly well either as he had gone on a very rare tantrum, screaming how in the hell was she alive when they had stabbed her well and through on that fateful night, and later on claiming her soul deserved rest instead of going on to becoming a monstrous thing she would hated with so much passion. It took more than Love and Rose calming him after which they all had arrived here. 

 

 

So really, a crying, emotional and outrageously broken Aida was not what they had in mind. What did she go through to become this? 

Once she had calmed down in Rose's comfort like always, Aida felt her hand gently grabbed by the man who smiled at her pleasantly before he whispered to her, "Aida, they've also come all the way to meet you. Don't you think they deserve to talk and meet you as well?" She trusted the blond with her life and soul seeing as he was the most gentle soul in whole of Soul Society in her eyes. She never saw him angered or taking any wrong decision; yes, she recalls him saying odd things in wrong situations, but aside that never was the man a fool or unfit for the role of Captaincy of Squad Three. Rather, after spending months in his company she realised he was perfect for it given how the squad overall worked. He was a great friend and a great shoulder to cry on; even after a hundred years later for her it seemed. 

Nodding, she felt Rose given her hand a gentle squeeze of comfort, looking her in the eyes as if to tell her ' it's alright ' before both ended the physical contact and she made way over to her friends, including Urahara, Tessai and Yoruichi who were all smiling at her with an exception of some that we all know very well. 

Standing before them, she sighed with her gaze on the floor and began, "I- I'm uh, so- ARGH!" What felt enormously close to a flip-flop collided with her face before she could complete her sentence once again, sending her rolling backwards like a bowling ball only to crash against miniature rocks seconds later, throwing them all down one by one -- just like in a bowling game. 

She shot off the ground and barked loudly at the small girl who was looking just as angry as her, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR, HIYORI?" whilst rubbing her head furiously that hurt from the impact of the flat-out abusive attack. 

"YOU SOUND GODDAMN ANNOYING WHEN YOU STUTTER, AIDA. YOU HAD THAT COMING, IDIOT." The girl had shouted back at her which made Aida ball her fists before whispering a 'why you' under her breath, unsheathing her zanpakutou with a 'click' followed by Hiyori herself. 

The other Visoreds alongside Urahara and Tessai, seeing this sudden change of environment, panicked and whilst some grabbed onto Aida (like Rose, Tessai and Urahara), some went over to prevent Hiyori from going at the woman (with likes of Lisa and Love) as a red line of anger clashed between the two. Shinji on the other hand simply observed, more particularly he was observing Aida who went from a crying mess to a small raging ball of anger. 

Finally, when both had calmed down they were released by both parties and exhaled before meeting eyes with Hiyori smirking at the mildly surprised woman, seeing how someone who slapped her was now giving her the 'bro' smirk. "It's good to see you again, Verron." 

Hearing her words, Aida let a small smile slip on her own face as she huffed under her breath before answering, "It's good to see you have the same fire in your soul as well, Hiyori. Don't ever lose it." Her compliment had caused a tint of pink set on the girl's cheeks but brushed it off immediately and letting the same old scowl return on her face. 

"In fact," the former Captain of Squad Eleven began aloud whilst making eye contact with everyone for a few seconds, "It's good to see everyone here. I apologise to Urahara, Tessai, Yoruichi and the children for making such a major mess here- I, I didn't take the news of you all becoming hollowfied by the hands of Aizen very well. I thought Kisuke intended to deceive me with such lies in order for me to side with Soul Society against the man." She sent a gentle smile full of apology towards the sandy-shade haired man who only laughed and hid his face with his fan. 

"Ne, Aida-chan. Do not apologise!" He told her, fanning himself all whilst hiding his face behind the thing which made her smile almost softly. 

After a few moments in silence had passed in which she simply looked at each former friend gratefully with nostalgia repeatedly running her over and over, the look on her face became serious as she remembered one of the many questions that were running in her mind and altogether forgetting one whose answer she had been searching for so long.

"What happened to you all after I was..gone?"

Everyone with the exception of of Urahara and Yoruichi stiffened at the question; they had to repeat the entire tale to her and they could only fathom the reaction once she learns just what Aizen had done not only to them but her as well. 

 

 

 

"I... understand."

"You do?" Many eyebrows perked up in her direction, seeing how surprisingly calm her face was after being told the entire story event by event. 

She flipped Urahara's table in the living room upside down angrily before shouting loudly, "OF COURSE I DON'T. I WILL MURDER SOSUKE AND THEN FEED HIS BODY TO THE ALLI-" Approximately three people jumped on top of her, one clapping her mouth shut from saying anything more bizarre than the usual. She had already began to squirm in their grip, demanding to let go so that she can complete her sentence without it sounding muffled but they were just as resilient as she was at times. 

After a few minutes of protests, kicks and muffled curses had Aida finally calmed down when released by all who restrained her. She fixed the table calmly and sat near it with elegantly folded legs before locking eyes with the one man sitting in front of her: Urahara. The Visoreds and Yoruichi, who had turned into a feline, were similarly seated around the tiny table in the room. Tessai sat in a corner of the room, putting a keen ear into the conversation whilst his eyes were on Jinta and Ururu who were also listening to the conversations all along. 

Rose rubbed his temples at yet the second outburst the woman had and he had to witness. She was not the calm, cold yet gentle woman he knew anymore; her emotions were more abundant now and she made sure not to hide her feelings towards anyone or anything anymore. With an inaudible suspire, he began to speak, "Dear me, Aida. You should learn how to control your anger now." His comment had turned the girl red as she huffed loudly, folding her hands over her chest and turning her face away from him to another direction. 

She definitely acted more like an adolescent than a woman of her..age. 

Urahara placed the fan down on the table and questioned the female arrancar who was acting so childishly, "Aida, what do you think of it all? Do you believe me now?" 

His questions made her drop the act and look back to him with a nod. "I do believe you, Urahara. I believe all of you, but I'm not quite sure what to do now" she settled her eyes down to the wooden material of the table, placing her hands over it as they began to fidget slightly, "ever since I began to retain my memories after becoming an arrancar it had been my mission to learn of the truth and find out what had happened to me, and now finding it out... I never really thought of what to do after learning the truth." 

Lisa was the one to ask a question now. "Are you still on Aizen's side?" It had to be asked no matter what all others in the room thought of it; bluntness had to be acquired in this situation and Yodamaru was not short of it at all. 

"I was never on Aizen's side, Lisa. I never was and now I can assure you with my rotten soul I am not" she answered icily, not believing the woman would even ask her such a question after telling her the man was the reason she no longer was a prestigious members of Soul Society anymore, "I was there because he had forced me an- I mean me to join him much like all other arrancars including the espadas." She will not be telling them of Grimmjow or Aizen's favour on her, no. It would ruin everything and she would prefer things to


End file.
